


If I'm not a liar then who am I?

by 0urhappygirl500



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack Treated Seriously, I know that's not how head injuries work, Temporary Amnesia, honest Ouma, there's a plot reason trust me, when I'm barley keeping up with the ones I already have, why am I starting a new fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-03-17 15:12:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13661631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0urhappygirl500/pseuds/0urhappygirl500
Summary: Ouma hits his head and loses his memory.





	1. Chapter 1

There was something not quite right about the séance, Ouma knew that and yet he just let it happened and now another murder had occurred. Two people were dead now, two more lives lost because he couldn't figure out how to end this killing game already and by the end of the trial there would be a third execution and another death to add to his nightmares.

He tried to swallow down the feeling of disgust towards this sick game and everything about it as he forced his mask into place running around gleefully with a big smile on his face.

For now, he had to pretend to enjoy this killing game, he had a plan and he needed to follow it. Ouma couldn't trust anyone here so pushing everyone away while he investigated the school in secret was his only option; if the mastermind ever realized how much he knew, how much he was learning and how much he had planned then he'd easily end up just like Amami.

With that thought in mind, he ran inside one of the vacant rooms to confirm a suspicion that he had. Maybe if his thoughts hadn't been occupied with thoughts of the killing game and how twisted the whole situation that was his reality ever since he woke up in that damn locker was he might have been paying attention to where he was running. Maybe if he hadn't decided to run everywhere to keep up appearances he would have noticed his foot falling through the floor.

Then maybe he could have stopped the loud bang the resounded through the room as he hit his head and maybe he could have stopped the darkness that would swallow him until he was no more.

\---

Saihara stepped out into the hallway to head over to reinvestigate some things about Angie's death when he was met with a sight beyond comprehension, Ouma Kokichi the Super High School Level Supreme Leader lying in a pool of blood.

There was a moment of silence where he was completely unsure of how to act, part of him was almost expecting the liar to jump up and claim it was all a lie but the supreme leader made no such movement, simply lying there as still as the grave. "Wh-What is this?" he found himself asking breaking the silence as he stared at the scene in shock.

"I-Is… that Ouma-kun?" Saihara almost couldn't believe that he was asking that, Ouma had always seemed sort of un-killable in a way as he danced circles around them all taunting them with his lies.

"…Who else could it be?" Harukawa said dismissively causing Saihara to flinch slightly, he knew that Harukawa didn't get along with Ouma, not many people did what with Ouma always constantly plotting something and causing trouble for them all but still that didn't mean that he ever wanted this to happen to the other boy.

Saihara felt his fist clench as he stared at the body of his classmate, this was the third body of this case… were there more? Why was this happening? Are there multiple killers or only one?

There were so many questions and he wondered if there was really enough time to get answers but the best course of action was probably to let the others know; it was just him and Harukawa at the moment so there was no body discovery announcement yet "I should get the others-" Saihara began trying to tear his gaze away from Ouma's still form when Harukawa interrupted him as if she could already tell where his thoughts were heading.

"He's still alive," Harukawa informed him with a sigh; almost as though she was disappointed walking closer to Ouma with a thoughtful expression crouching down to get a better look.

"What? Then he's okay?" he found himself asking in surprise though some exasperation was already dripping into his voice as he wondered if this was some elaborate prank and the supreme leader was merely playing dead to see how they would react.

"I wouldn't say okay, he's definitely unconscious," Harukawa replied as she began following a trail of blood towards one of the nearest rooms while Saihara made his way towards Ouma's unconscious body to check for injuries and found himself wincing as soon as he did; it was no surprise that the other boy was unconscious as Saihara could clearly see that not only had Ouma hit his head pretty hard but had also scratched it as well causing the gash to worsen resulting to the slowly growing pool of blood on the floor.

With slightly shaking hands Saihara reached for Ouma's wrist and began searching for a pulse, there was one awful second where he could feel nothing and panic began to rise up in the detective's throat, was Harukawa wrong?

Then suddenly he found it, Ouma's heartbeat, weak but definitely there.

"We need to get some help!" Saihara declared grabbing Harukawa's attention before turning back to the other boy "what happened to him?" he wondered aloud not quite expecting an answer right away causing him to start when Harukawa provided one.

"It looked like he fell through the floor in one of the rooms over there," Harukawa informed him curtly as she crouched down beside him studying Ouma's form once more.

"Fell through the floor!?" he found himself repeating in shock, that was clearly dangerous, he had thought that the floors were more secure than that. For some reason, though he felt as though the insecure floorboards might be important somehow…

Harukawa nodded as she continued her observation, "most likely that's how he hit his head and hurt himself in the first place. He might have been fine if he just waited for help but it looks like he crawled out here before passing out from blood loss and probably worsened his injury" Harukawa said as she stood up giving Ouma's body another glance "I would say we should just leave him here but he should be fine if he gets some help. There's definitely going to be some head trauma but I can't say what kind"

"Wow Harukawa-san it's impressive you could tell all that by just looking at him," Saihara found the words slipping out of his mouth before he even realised he was saying them but that didn't make them any less true he thought as he felt a small smile making its way onto his face.

At his exclamation Harukawa turned away slightly before answering, "it's nothing; assassins are usually supposed to recognise if their targets are still alive or not even at a great distance and recognising wounds can be the difference between life and death"

Saihara began lifting Ouma slightly only to be surprised by how *light* the other boy was and in that second it felt as though he was finally realising how small Ouma was compared to the rest of them.

"What was he doing here in the first place?" Saihara wondered aloud trying to distract himself from thoughts about how fragile Ouma seemed in that moment as he felt a thoughtful look begin to form on his face "he was probably investigating something before the trial but what?..." Saihara found that this particular thought wasn't a distraction and more something that he genuinely wanted the answer to, Ouma was unpredictable but he would admit the supreme leader saw things that the rest of them didn't which sometimes even helped them during trials making him think that things could be a lot easier if Ouma just acted as if he were on their side for even a second.

*Ding dong, dong ding…*

"Huh!?" the exclamation burst out of his mouth in shock as he was suddenly dragged out of his thoughts and Monokuma's shill voice began to play out from the monitors.

"Confidence… Dreams… That's what the killing game is all about! Killing game fans! Hold your head high and watch with your own two eyes! Baseball! Soccer! Mobile games! They're all nothing compared to the killing game! The killing game just can't be beat! Behold, students! The entrance to the trial grounds!"

The announcement ended and Harukawa let out a tired sigh a disappointed look showing on her face "I guess… time's up." Harukawa muttered before giving an annoyed glance at Ouma who had squirmed slightly when Monokuma's announcement was taking place before falling still once again "looks like we wasted all our time on him…"

"Ah! that's right what are we going to do about Ouma in the trial!?" Saihara exclaimed as he was suddenly hit by the realisation, there was no way that Ouma could participate in the trial in his condition, would the mandatory participation rule still apply here? As if on cue to his concerns a familiar phrase sounded out throughout the hallway.

"Rise and Shine, Ursine!"

As soon as they appeared the pink one was already throwing up and Saihara felt himself having to fight the annoyance that was already building up.

"Oh, no emergency! Emergency! One of the students is hurt badly! Someone call daddy what do we do?"

"Wow, there's no way he's going to be able to be able to participate in the class trial Monodam what gives?"

"…"

"Hey!" Saihara said in frustration putting a stop to there banter "what's going to happen to Ouma-kun!?" he asked when suddenly Monokuma appeared and he had to keep himself from dropping Ouma in surprise.

"What's this one of my precious students got injured just before a trial?" Monokuma stated looking curious before laughing "wow who knew Ouma could be so clumsy! He should really watch where he's going more!" Monokuma stated laughing the entire time as if the whole situation was nothing more than a joke for his amusement and maybe to the bear it was.

"Hey! Ouma-kun's hurt there's no way that he'll be able to participate in the trial like this!" Saihara said he felt he had to say something anything just to feel like he wasn't letting Monokuma walk all over them.

"Hmm, can't participate in the trial?" Monokuma said slowly causing him to tense up before the bear started laughing again "well I suppose that's to be expected, it'd be pretty boring if we just had an unconscious sack of dead weight at trial so that's to be expected." Monokuma said happily as the Monokubs suddenly held up a gurney.

"WE-WILL-TAKE-CARE-OF-HIS-INJURIES!" Monodam said as if noticing that Saihara was suddenly holding onto Ouma a bit tighter, a fact that he had only just noticed himself.

"That's right my student's health is my topmost priority! So leave him to us and start heading to the trial grounds already!" Monokuma said holding up a claw threating them as he said the last part. 

With slight reluctance, Saihara handed Ouma over, laying the other boy down on the gurney before the Monokubs lifted Ouma up and began carrying Ouma away.

\---

 

Harukawa was glad that the trial was finally over, and honestly the blackened of this case deserved to be executed. Surprisingly Ouma getting injured led to an important clue that ended up helping solve the case an added bonus that made her for a brief second wonder if god really did exist.

Perhaps it was because she put more effort into the trial's investigation or the fact that Ouma wasn't there to constantly mock her but the trial seemed better than the last two as if she was actually helping people.

Yumeno had left the trial grounds with a downtrodden look on her face but that was to be expected considering she lost two people she was close to. Though Harukawa would be lying more than Ouma himself if she said that she'd miss Angie and her cult.

But as she talked with Saihara and Momota it was a nice feeling… having friends to talk to and worry about. Momota was… frustrating, definitely frustrating but for some reason, she didn't exactly mind that. She was about to leave when Monokuma suddenly appeared in her path.

"Oh good. Three of you are still out here! I'm here to tell you that Ouma Kokichi is ‘awake'" Monokuma told them gleefully as if he was telling an inside joke, she had to fight down her irritation though this was not the first time she thought about how if it weren't for the rules she would have crushed that damn bear.

"…Why should I care?" Harukawa asked curtly because the last thing she cared about was that annoying brat when to her surprise Monokuma started laughing.

"Upupup… Well, it appears that Ouma-kun isn't quite himself because of his head injury and I thought it would be best for his classmates to know."

"What do you mean ‘not himself'" Saihara asked hesitantly causing Monokuma to laugh even harder.

"Upupupu! Who knows? You'll just have to see for your self." Monokuma said in that knowing but mocking tone he used on them so much before leaving them, all three frozen having no idea what to make of what they had just been told.

"You want to go check on him don't you?" Harukawa asked turning towards Saihara, the detective already looking thoughtful. At her question, Saihara started and began looking embarrassed and sheepish, as if he had been caught in something.

"Well… it couldn't hurt just to check on him just to see if Monokuma was telling the truth about him being awake" Saihara said nervously just before a sigh escaped her lips, it wasn't a sigh in frustration but almost… a fond sigh.

Saihara was a detective, after all, she wouldn't expect any less of him than wanting to investigate something mysterious.

Harukawa let out a relenting ‘alright' causing Saihara to look at her in shock "you're coming too Harukawa-san?" the detective asked causing Harukawa's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance.

"Do you want to die?" the threat slipped out of her mouth without her thinking, she took a breath to calm herself down before speaking again "I don't feel like leaving you alone with that asshole, what about you? Are you coming?" she asked turning towards Momota who looked slightly surprised at being addressed.

"Of course! I can't let my sidekicks deal with whatever's happened alone!" Momota declared giving her a thumbs up and Harukawa found herself fighting the smile that threatened to make its way onto her face when Momota suddenly wore an almost pained expression "you two can go on ahead first though… I need a minute before dealing with the brat this late…" Momota told them and both of them nodded in understanding.

She figured that Monokuma wouldn't lock the door to Ouma's room when he had just told them to go to it so she simply figured that she could enter with no problems, the door opening as she turned the handle was proof that she was correct in this belief. Whatever she had been expecting to see however it certainly wasn't what met her on the other side of the door.

"Please calm down we have a lot we need to explain to you," the voice of one of the Monokubs, the pink one said as Harukawa and Saihara walked in to the sight of Ouma pressing himself up against the wall staring at the Monokubs with a surprisingly open look of confusion, fear and weariness his eyes darting over to her and Saihara almost as if to examine them as soon as they walked in.

"Oh good your classmates are here!" the red one said in relief suddenly noticing their presence "they'll explain the stuff you need to know to you! Don't worry I forget things all the time but the people around me always help me out!" he said reassuringly and enthusiastically.

Forget things?

"Ouma-kun are you alright?" Saihara asked choosing to ignore the Momokubs instead focusing on the reason why they were here, Ouma looked at them thoughtfully as if he was studying them though what took Harukawa aback was how *honest* the liar's expression looked.

"I… I think so?" Ouma said in the most hesitant voice she had ever heard him use causing both her and Saihara to freeze as Ouma continued "I just have one question… who… who are you guys?"


	2. Chapter 2

"He's faking it! He has to be!" Harumaki said to the group once again as they all gave her an incredulous look, Momota didn't blame her for thinking that Ouma was lying this was the exact kind of crap that the brat would try to pull but something in his gut was telling the astronaut that for once Ouma was being honest.

"While I do understand your doubts I find it hard to believe that this is all an act, Monokuma himself confirmed Ouma-Kun's memory loss correct?" Kiibo asked looking thoughtful while Momota found himself wishing once again that he'd been able to go with Harumaki and Shūichi as soon as Monokuma had first informed them that something was wrong with Ouma.

His throat burned and his stomach squeezed uncomfortably at the memory of coughing up blood before banishing the thought from his mind. He was fine! He wasn't sick and no way was he going to die here!

Wanting to distract himself Momota thought back to the scene he walked in on last night, the first thing he noticed was what a god damn mess Ouma's room was and the second was the glare that Harumaki was throwing Ouma's way as Shuichi talked to the supreme leader who was wearing such an open look of horror and confusion that Momota almost didn't believe he was looking at Ouma for a second.

Then Monokuma appeared to inform them that Ouma had lost his memory due to a head injury leaving them all at a loss at what to think. Shuichi had questioned Ouma for a bit longer before they decided to all turn in for the night and try to figure out what to do in the morning. It was a reasonable enough plan but for some reason, Momota couldn't get the image of how lost Ouma had looked when he had said goodbye to them.

It was so different from Ouma's usual smart-ass look that it left the astronaut reeling. 

"Nyeh, if even Monokuma's backing him up he's probably not faking it… Why don't we just use the flashback lights to give him his memory back and be over with this? It's such a pain…" Yumeno muttered half-heartedly and Momota felt a frown begin to form on his face, he'd have to try and have a talk with her later or something.

Iruma's laugh sounded throughout the dining room interrupting his thoughts as the inventor began to point a finger at Yumeno "those freaky lights don't work like that they only give you specific memories! But why should we even talk about trying to get the little gremlin's memories back in the first place? He'll be a lot easier to deal with if he doesn't know what the fuck is going on!" Iruma said before laughing again looking pleased with herself but her words clearly bringing an uncomfortable thought into all their heads.

"Iruma-san if Ouma truly does have memory loss we can not simply leave him like that, we must try to jog his memory or we could risk him hurting himself," Kiibo scolded gently though Iruma still turned into a shaking, cowering mess.

"Wh-what!? I just thought that maybe it might be nice if he wasn't constantly causing trouble for once…" Iruma defended herself and there was a moment of silence where no one wanted to admit that they might actually be agreeing with her words, but no! That wasn't right, even Ouma deserved to have his memories!

It was Gonta who broke the silence and Momota was never more glad to have the big guy around than at that moment "Gonta's not sure how he can help Ouma-kun but like a gentlemen he will make friends with Ouma-kun all over again until Ouma-Kun remembers everyone," Gonta suggested happily and Momota found himself nodding along, yeah that's a great plan of action.

He almost let out a sigh of relief as the slightly tense air that had been hanging over them lifted at Gonta's words.

"I think it's plain to see that Ouma-Kun's not faking, after all the villain losing his memories and helping the good guys happens all the time!" Shirogane added excitedly referencing something or another.

"…I don't think it's quite right to call him a villain Shirogane-san but I definitely don't think Ouma-Kun's memory loss is a lie," Shuichi said before placing a hand over his mouth like he always does when he's thinking. "When I talked with him last night it was clear he knew basic things like facts and general knowledge but everything about himself and our situation was just…gone" Shuichi told them and that was definitely an uncomfortable thought if a person lost all their memories of themselves would they even be them anymore?

Shuichi began to shift uncomfortably when he saw the mood of the room drop as his words sank in lifting his hand to pull down a hat that wasn't there anymore before realizing his mistake and awkwardly putting his hand down before continuing "um, from what the Monokubs have told me the memory loss could have been caused by stress or something similar and there's a chance that Ouma-kun's memory might return on its own" the detective suggested awkwardly and Momota felt a small tug of a smile at his lips at his sidekicks attempt to ease everyone's tensions. 

"But there's not much we can even do for Ouma-kun is there? I mean none of us has any medical training so we can't even properly help him with his head injury…" Shirogane lamented quietly to herself though the rest of the class still managed to hear her the mood dropping even further at the implications of her words because they were the truth. In this Academy, they had no real way to help anyone who was injured or sick, not Ouma and not him…

Momota slammed his hands on the table and stood up with much more force than necessary shocking his classmates.

"Momota-kun are you okay?" Shuichi asked in surprise causing Momota to realize what he had just done. Quickly trying to fix the situation he flashed the detective a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.

"I'm fine! But man we can't just sit around here and sulk around like this!" Momota announced as he pounded his fists together for emphasis, which was the truth they couldn't afford to wallow in negative emotions in the killing game. That was just what Monokuma wanted! "Where even is Ouma anyway? He should be here if we're going to be talking about him," he noted in realization the liar's absence almost feeling odd.

"I had also noticed Ouma-Kun's absence at the beginning of breakfast but assumed that he was still too unwell from the head injury he received yesterday to attend, which I suppose is true in a way but I can guess that given his circumstances he no longer knows about us all meeting for breakfast" Kiibo replied looking thoughtful and Momota found himself nodding along as an idea formed in his mind.

"All right just leave it to me!" he announced brandishing his signature thumbs up, "I'll go bring Ouma some breakfast and check whether he's faking it" he told the group turning to Harumaki as he said the last part to reassure her, she huffed at him before turning away.

"Don't let him trick you," Harumaki muttered just before Shuichi looked at him with a fond look that was filled with slight concern.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay dealing with him alone?" Shuichi asked and yeah it didn't surprise him that no one else was exactly jumping up and down for the chance to check on Ouma the kid was a brat who had practically pushed them all away but someone has to make sure he hasn't caused any trouble and the astronaut would gladly do what he could. 

"Don't worry this is nothing to a guy like me!" Momota reassured as Shirogane began preparing some food for him to take to Ouma.

As he was walking towards the dormitories a part of him wondered what the hell he was even doing but another part of him was telling him that right now Ouma needed someone around him and that was the same part of him that had told him that Shuichi needed guidance to be more confident and Harumaki needed acceptance to let her walls down so he might as well listen to it about this.

He knocked on Ouma's door and waited for a few moments as he heard some frantic shuffling about from the other side before the door opened a slight crack as Ouma peaked through looking the very image of fear and nervousness, the supreme leader's shoulders seemed less tense once he saw Momota opening the door slightly more, though still giving the impression he was ready to slam it in the astronauts face at a moments notice.

Ouma spent a few moments studying Momota, which was a surreal feeling, not because he was being studied but because he could actually tell what Ouma was doing. Usually, Ouma was unreadable it was hard to get what he meant unless he told you and even then he was probably just lying to mess with you, but now though it seemed as if the liar might have forgotten how to so expertly cover up his facial expressions.

"You were here last night…" Ouma muttered drawing Momota out of his thoughts, eyes still searching him full of a mix of weariness and nervousness, which was strange to see in the purple eyes though there was some curiosity in there as well. "With that detective that asked all the questions and… the scary girl?" Ouma asked slightly hesitating before describing Harumaki before looking like he decided just to say what he was thinking leaving Momota torn between being annoyed at the negative opinion to one of his sidekicks or marvelling at Ouma choosing the honest option.

Then again it was an honest option insulting Harumaki so he wasn't sure if it really counted.

"That's right Shuichi and Harumaki are my sidekicks and just so you know Harumaki isn't a bad person she just comes off a little cold without meaning to sometimes," Momota said with a reassuring smile as Ouma hesitantly nodded and the astronaut could practically see the other boy filing away the information for later.

"Harumaki?" Ouma whispered to himself sounding as though he didn't know what to think before looking up at Momota again and hesitantly asking "so…um why are you here?"

"You kind of missed breakfast," Momota said holding up the tray of food that Shirogane had prepared as realization sparked in Ouma's eyes and the supreme leader's face flushed slightly in embarrassment. 

"Right, of course, breakfast, people need food to survive, duh," Ouma said looking embarrassed fully opening the door to allow Momota to step in. It was the second time Momota had been in the other boy's room and he couldn't decide whether or not the room was cleaner or messier now that it was last night; it definitely looked like someone had tried to organize some of it though.

"Looking for something?" he asked placing the tray on a small free spot on the desk as he saw Ouma looking out into the hallway once Momota had entered the room, Ouma froze in place as if he had been caught in something and looked embarrassed as he shut the door.

"Oh, nothing, nothing! I was just wondering if the detective was with you…" Ouma said trailing off towards the end causing Momota to look at him curiously.

"Shuichi? No, he's probably going to be pretty busy investigating the new parts of the school. Why do you need him for something?" Momota asked and Ouma suddenly seemed very interested in the floor.

"No, not really…" Ouma said not quite meeting the astronaut's eyes which only served to increase his curiosity even further, he saw Ouma fidget slightly under his gaze before the other boy muttered out "it's stupid" as if asking him to drop the subject, a request Momota decided to ignore.

"Come on, it could be important out with it already," Momota said sounding slightly gentler to Ouma than he usually would but the uncertainty on the liar's face was so new he couldn't find it in him to actually get annoyed at the other boy.

"Well, it's just he's the only person I've actually talked to since waking up that wasn't a mechanical bear so I… never mind like I said it's stupid" Ouma muttered eyes still glued to the floor as a realization stuck Momota.

Ouma had lost his memories and nothing was familiar to him anymore and he had only had one conversation with someone who wasn't Monokuma or the Monokubs, of course, he'd be nervous.

Before he could even comprehend what he was doing he placed a hand reassuringly on Ouma's shoulder causing the smaller boy to start and finally look up at him "well you're talking to me now aren't you so you can't say you've only talked to one person," he said in the tone of voice he used whenever someone needed to be pulled out of their own head and needed some help.

Ouma let out a slight laugh; it was a nervous laugh that was a bit embarrassed and so different from his usual irritating mocking one. "I guess I am aren't I?" Ouma said giving Momota a hesitant smile before taking a step back "so you're…" Ouma prompted expectantly and that's right he didn't bother introducing himself last night with all the confusion.

"Wow, you really don't remember anything do you?" Momota said rubbing the back of his head before grinning and pounding his fists together "all right listen up so you don't forget again! I'm Momota Kaito, Luminary of the Stars! Even crying children adore the Super High School Level Astronaut!" Momota announced proudly only to hear laughter.

"Oh my god that was incredible! Is that how you always introduce yourself? Please tell me it is," Ouma said as Momota stared indignantly as the smaller boy laughed. He very nearly got angry but stopped himself when he saw the pure overjoyed look on Ouma's face.

Momota had seen Ouma smile before sure, it was rare to see the liar without his shit-eating grin while mocking all of them. There were also a couple of creepy smiles Ouma had shown during trials but all of that was completely different from the smile that Ouma was showing right now. Completely innocent with nothing but a look of pure enjoyment like a child that had found something amazing.

Momota decided that he might like this kind of laughter a bit better. That this kind of smile might suit the smaller boy better.

"Well let's hear you give your introduction then!" causing Ouma's laughter to come to a sudden halt.

Ouma raised a questioning eyebrow before asking "correct me if I'm wrong but don't you know who I am already? I mean doesn't literally everyone know more about me than I do at this point?" there was some typical Ouma snark in his tone but it felt off without the mocking and condensation coming across more friendly and playful.

Momota gave a sigh before responding to Ouma's question "yeah but it's important for you to introduce yourself isn't it?" he asked hoping that Ouma was getting what he was trying to convey, it seemed he did by the thoughtful look on his face.

There was a moment of silence before Ouma spoke again in a voice that was obviously trying to come across friendly and cheerful but still carried a weight of nervousness and uncertainty to it "well apparently I'm Ouma Kokichi and apparently I'm the Super High School Level Supreme Leader, not entirely sure what that means but hey at least it sounds cool right? Anyway, it's nice to meet you Momota-chan" Ouma said finishing his introduction by holding out his hand.

Despite himself, Momota found him staring at the hand in disbelief, Ouma extending his hand to someone either metaphorically or literally had always felt impossible to the astronaut the liar too wrapped up in his lies and distrust of everyone to even consider doing such a thing.

But here it was, a hand extended and even though it was only in mock greeting it was still amazing. At that moment Momota lost any doubts that Ouma might be faking his memory loss as he stared at the hand which had a slight hesitant tremble to it as if Ouma was prepared to yank it back at a moments notice.

Grabbing on before the supreme leader could pull away Momota shook the hand with a grin "it's nice to meet you too Ouma!" and though he had never thought in a million years he would actually say anything like that he found that in that moment he really meant it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lets be honest were we expecting everyone's first reaction to Ouma losing his memory to be anything other than doubt? I'm worried that Ouma might have come across a little too trusting when he let Momota into his room but at this point he's in an unknown situation and part of him probably wants allies to figure stuff out, plus the fact that Momota was with Saihara and Harukawa means he recognized him as a 'classmate'.
> 
> So far Ouma has interacted with three people, Momota just now, Saihara who basically spent his entire interaction trying to find out about Ouma's memory loss and also informing him about what's happening and Harukawa who literally just glared at him. 
> 
> Also something I think everyone should know Maki never introduced herself, right now the only name Ouma actually has for her in his head is Harumaki.
> 
> Thank you for all the nice comments and kudos I wasn't expecting people to be interested in my weird idea that wouldn't leave me alone but I hope we all enjoy this wild ride together.


	3. Chapter 3

It took a bit of prompting but after a while, Momota was able to persuade Ouma to leave his room to go explore the new areas of the school and reintroduce the places that Ouma had forgotten. He wanted to see what Shuichi and the others had found this time but he also kind of just wanted to get Ouma out of his room. Something told the astronaut that Ouma was probably completely prepared the haul himself up in his room forever if someone didn't drag him out.

Ouma grabbed a couple of papers just before stepping out of his room looking like he would rather be doing anything but what he was doing right now and was completely ready to dart back into his room at a moments notice.

"What are the papers for?" Momota asked as he followed Ouma out shutting the door so the smaller boy wouldn't be able to run back in. He mostly asked out of curiosity but also to try to distract Ouma from his nervousness and whatever thoughts he was currently having.

Ouma started at being addressed before hesitantly handing Momota the papers to show him. Momota found himself taking the papers with a raised eyebrow feeling disbelief that it looked like he might get a straightforward answer from Ouma Kokichi of all people! Usually, Ouma would just tell him to mind his own business or make up some kind of ridiculous nonsense designed to irritate him over actually answering the question.

The astronaut found his eyes widening as he stared down at what looked like hand-drawn blueprints of the parts of the academy that they had seen so far with little comments that had obviously been written by the liar before his accident about which areas were connected to murders and other information the group had found.

"Um, I was going through the stuff in my room to see if I could find anything to figure out what was going on, half the stuff in there I think is just random junk designed to distract anyone snooping around the room… but there seems to be a lot of notes that could be useful but a lot of them are written in a cipher that I haven't figured out yet but I think I was the one who made it so hopefully I can…" Ouma trailed off from his nervous ramble when he saw Momota staring at him and began shuffling uncomfortably under his gaze.

"I um, I think I was trying to make a map of the school before you know I hit my head… so I, so I thought maybe since we're going to be looking at new parts apparently… I could maybe try to continue it?" Ouma explained though his explanation ended up coming out more like a question as if he wasn't sure if it was all right and was asking permission.

The astronaut almost couldn't believe what he was hearing, from the sound of it Ouma had been investigating the school on his own without telling any of them anything he found. The thought that Ouma could have possibly found something important and withheld it from the rest of them was beyond frustrating.

Momota took a breath to calm himself down as he stared at the blueprints in his hands, right now it didn't matter what exactly Ouma had been hiding, the fact that Momota was even holding these blueprints were more than enough proof that right now Ouma was willing to work with them.

Turning his gaze back to Ouma who looked as though he wished the ground would swallow him up, Momota gave him a reassuring smile as he handed back the blueprints which Ouma held close as soon as they were returned to him almost like part of the supreme leader thought he wouldn't get them back. "Great work! You should really show these to Shuichi when you get the chance they could really help," Momota said causing Ouma to look at him in surprise.

"You mean… I haven't already shown him before?" Ouma asked hesitantly causing Momota to sigh as he rubbed the back of his head, this was hard, how do you tell someone they used to cause nothing but trouble? With Ouma, the way he was at the moment it didn't really feel right to blame him for things he didn't even remember but lying to him wouldn't do any good either.

"Not really, you mostly kept whatever you were doing to yourself," Momota told him deciding to be as truthful as possible as he watched Ouma's reaction out the corner of his eye on how he'd handle that piece of information.

He really hoped Ouma wouldn't decide to shut himself off from them or something.

"Oh…" Ouma muttered with a small frown, pace slowing slightly as he began staring at the ground "that sounds kind of lonely…" the other boy whispered so quietly Momota was certain that he wasn't supposed to hear it.

Momota found himself frowning at the look on Ouma's face, he'd never seen the supreme leader wear such a downtrodden look before, the astronaut opened his mouth to say something but stopped when Ouma suddenly stopped walking attention caught by something ahead of them.

"… Is that a robot?" Ouma suddenly said amazement dripping in his voice as Momota turned to see what Ouma was looking at.

Iruma's lab was looking different than when he had last seen it with Iruma and Kiibo talking to each other directly outside, oh so that's what caught his attention "you mean Kiibo?" Momota asked wondering how Ouma was going to react, the first time Ouma met Kiibo he'd been a brat and chased him around which made the astronaut wonder how Ouma was going to act this time around. 

"Momota-chan, I want you to be completely honest with me here" Ouma began in a strangely serious tone causing him to tense expectantly at whatever Ouma was going to ask "are you telling me that one of my classmates is a robot? Like an actual robot?" Ouma asked as Momota nodded his head.

Looks like some things never change "yeah but he's not any different from anyone else here so try not to give him a hard time okay-" Momota began trying to do damage control before Ouma upset Kiibo when he was suddenly interrupted by an excited exclamation.

"That is so cool!" Ouma said eyes shining in excitement not holding any of the mischiefs that he usually saw in them, but looking at Kiibo in amazement. Upon seeing the clear look of wonder on Ouma's face Momota found himself struggling to hold back a laugh as he was hit with a realization, of course, anyone would be impressed to find out they were classmates with a robot.

"Do you want to go introduce yourself to him?" Momota asked and in a second Ouma's excited look turned to one of shock and nervousness.

"What? You mean… right now? I, I'm not sure he looks kind of busy and… Momota-chan what are you doing!?" Ouma cried as Momota began walking up to Kiibo and Iruma halfway through his nervous little ramble, Ouma, as he was right now, reminded him slightly of Shuichi in the fact that now it seemed he needed a little push here and there.

At his approach Kiibo and Iruma began to notice him putting a pause to their conversation to greet him, "ah Momota-kun how did your meeting with Ouma-kun go? He didn't give you too much trouble I hope," Kiibo greeted once Momota was close enough, Momota gave the robot a casual wave when Iruma suddenly spoke up.

"So what's the deal is the fucking gremlin faking or not?" Iruma asked and Momota couldn't suppress a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head.

"He's definitely not faking I can tell you that much," Momota replied before smiling and jerking a thumb over to Ouma's direction "so right now I'm showing him around the school and reintroducing him to everyone" Momota explained as the other two looked over to where Ouma was standing.

The supreme leader seemed to be staring at them frozen in place, as if not sure quite what to do before scurrying over when Momota made a gesture for him to come over. "Ah…hi?" Ouma said once he had joined up with the rest of them giving a slight awkward wave causing Kiibo and Iruma to start back before sharing an uncertain look with each other.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Ouma shuffled about nervously, memories or no memories the smaller boy never seemed to be able to stay still as the silence continued Ouma looked as if he was going to self-destruct and the astronaut what just about to step in when luckily Kiibo finally spoke up.

"Ouma-kun glad to see that you're up and about again," Kiibo said taking a step forward frowning when Ouma seemed to take a subconscious step back but perking up again after a pause "oh that's right you're currently unfamiliar with me at the moment correct?" Kiibo asked as Ouma hesitantly nodded.

"Very well allow me to reintroduce myself I am Kiibo the Super High School Level Robot!" Kiibo introduced holding out his hand to shake, Ouma stared at it for a moment looking caught between desperately wanting to take it and unsure if he should.

Momota waited a second before giving the smaller boy a gentle nudge on the arm spurring him into action as he took Kiibo's hand "…it's nice to meet you too! I'm Ouma Kokichi… though I guess you already knew that!" Ouma said happily, Kiibo looked slightly surprised at Ouma's action before giving a smile.

Despite all the trouble Ouma had caused the robot before his accident Momota was kind of pleased that it looked like they were able to have a decent interaction, the first time they met Ouma had chased Kiibo around the school saying he wanted to touch the robot at the time Momota thought Ouma was just being a weird brat looking to start trouble but now looking at the slight excitement in Ouma's eyes as he shook Kiibo's hand Momota was wondering if Ouma had genuinely just wanted to touch a robot.

Whatever moment had been forming, however, was suddenly shattered as Iruma took a step forward with her usual laugh "all right you little abortion! I know that you fucked up your head more than it already was but try and use your brain cells to remember this! I'm the gorgeous girl genius whose good looks and golden brain will go down in history! I'm the one, the only, the legendary Super High School Level Inventor herself, Iruma Miu! Remember that for your wet dreams later tonight!" Iruma introduced herself as she began laughing arrogantly and Momota had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at Iruma's behaviour.

He should have realized that Ouma probably wouldn't remember how to act around Iruma's… personality especially since without his memories Ouma suddenly seemed a lot less sure of himself because maybe he wouldn't have been surprised when after Iruma's introduction Ouma suddenly scrambled away trying to put as much distance as he could between himself and the inventor while not running away from the group entirely and practically hiding behind Momota.

Momota glanced at Ouma shaking like a leaf while basically hiding behind him, the astronaut realizing he was currently in between Ouma and the inventor. 

"What the fuck?" Ouma quietly whispered tears at the corners of his eyes, as he looked completely overwhelmed as if he had no idea what to think, there was a moment of silence, as they all stared at Ouma in complete shock and disbelief none of them expecting this reaction. Then suddenly Iruma let out an overconfident grin.

"Now that's more fucking like it!" Iruma yelled before laughing, "Looks like the shitty shota finally learned his god damn place!"

Iruma's comment seemed to break whatever spell Momota and Kiibo had been under that had been keeping them frozen Momota moving to step in front of Ouma protectively, something he never thought he'd do but the smaller boy looked as though he was ready to retreat into himself and he had to do something while Kiibo tried to get Iruma to stop.

"Iruma-san please we shouldn't overwhelm him so quickly-" Kiibo tried to scold as Iruma kept on laughing.

"Oh no, after all the shit he's pulled it's payback time baby!" Iruma declared before making a blushing face "plus it's not my fault if he suddenly can't handle all of this."

"Just back off already, come on that's not cool" Momota said with a sigh causing Iruma to go to her less confident attitude as Kiibo continued to talk to her and she began trying to defend herself Momota let out a sigh as he turned to Ouma "just ignore her she's like that sometimes but she's not a bad person," Momota explained as Ouma looked up at him and then over to Iruma and Kiibo before nodding hesitantly.

Momota said goodbye to them, which Kiibo responded to though the inventor was still spluttering out defences, and Ouma managed to give a slight wave goodbye before following Momota as he walked away.

Ouma was quiet as he walked behind Momota constantly looking back in the direction of the dorms and Momota could tell the smaller boy seemed to want to go back to his room but he couldn't let him just yet he still hadn't met everyone yet!

Momota saw Gonta a bit away from them doing something and the astronaut was about to call out to him when he suddenly stopped himself, Gonta was a great guy but he also knew the big guy could be intense sometimes. The insect meet and greet though Ouma's fault was proof enough of that. After what happened with Iruma it might be best to reintroduce Ouma to someone a little quieter just to calm the other boy's nerves and not overwhelm him.

Momota felt his face light up as he spotted exactly who he needed outside Chabashira's lab.

\---

Yumeno had been staring at Chabashira's lab for a while now wishing she knew revival magic, she also wished that revival magic wasn't forbidden…

She wasn't sure what she was feeling… the neo aikido master had seemed really bothersome before always following her and making lots of noise… but now it was too quiet and the space beside her felt so empty…

"Hey Yumeno!" a voice suddenly called causing her to turn around to see Momota walking up to her with Ouma following him like a duckling following its mother, she probably would have been struck with how odd that was if she wasn't suppressing a groan. She didn't want to deal with Ouma right now, her feelings were already messed up enough right now and Ouma would only make things worse with his general Ouma-ness.

Dealing with Ouma right now would be such a pain…

"Hey Yumeno how are you doing?" Momota asked and Yumeno had to resist covering her eyes with her hat because even if she didn't want to deal with anyone right now Momota was nice so she should at least try to talk to him.

"I'm fine…" she muttered out and Momota looked at her with some concern in his eyes, everyone had been looking at her with some concern in their eyes since the third trial but they didn't need to. She really was fine! She was fine… she was fine…

After a second of watching her Momota gave her a nod before gesturing to Ouma who was looking at her curiously "I'm trying to reintroduce Ouma to everything and thought it might be good for the two of you to say hello," Momota explained cheerfully and oh that's right Ouma wasn't supposed to remember anything right now.

Hopefully, he wouldn't make her mood worse then.

"Okay… well, you probably don't remember since you're under a forgetfulness spell but prepared to be amazed. Fall to your knees. I am Yumeno Himiko, the Super High School Level Mage." Yumeno announced the first time she had introduced herself to Ouma he immediately had starting mocking her and saying magic wasn't real which was a lie because magic is definitely real! This time however after her introduction she heard clapping.

Ouma had started giving a small applause as soon as she had given her introduction though when he saw Yumeno and Momota looking at him he immediately stopped and started looking at the ground.

"ah… sorry! That just… seemed like the right thing to do at the time?" Ouma tried and Yumeno found herself trying to repress a smile but could still feel a small twitch on her lips.

"That's fine it's good for you to show respect for the mystic arts, not enough people do… that's why I'm officially called the Super High School Level Magician" Yumeno explained she didn't like having to reveal her official title most of the time and now she was practically waiting for Ouma to start making fun of her even if he hadn't at first.

"Oh well both titles are pretty cool" Ouma stated causing her to pause.

"Y- yeah they are," Yumeno said not believing what she was hearing "…did you get a niceness spell cast on you along with a forgetfulness spell?" she found herself hesitantly asking and Ouma looked at her uncertainly before turning to Momota as if the astronaut would know the right answer.

Instead, Momota just gave them both a smile "hey I want to check on how Shuichi is doing, Yumeno do you think you can watch Ouma for a little bit?" Momota asked as Yumeno pulled her hat over her eyes, under any other circumstances she'd absolutely say no to having to spend more time with Ouma than she had to but right now Ouma seemed less of a pain so she guesses she could. Yumeno gave a slight nod and Momota's grin seemed to grow brighter.

Ouma suddenly looked slightly panicked at the prospect of Momota leaving but seemed to be holding himself back and started holding up some papers "um… so, do you want to take these to him then?" Ouma asked and Momota looked thoughtful for a second before shaking his head.

"Nah, it would be better for you to show them to him yourself. There yours, after all, aren't they?" Momota said causing Ouma to give a nod and a slight smile, which looked a lot more hesitant and shy than it usually did before Momota gave them both a grin and a wave before running off in the direction of the school.

She and Ouma stood awkwardly in silence for a while neither seemed to know what to say before Ouma turned towards the dojo.

"Is this a lab?" Ouma asked as Yumeno gave a nod, "who's is it?" Ouma asked another question.

"Chabashira-san" Yumeno answered too quickly and suddenly Ouma was looking at her… no, he was studying her, after a while, it looked as if he had found whatever he was looking for because he asked another question.

"…is she…"

"Yes"

Technically she hadn't let him finish the question but she knew what he was going to ask anyway so what was the point?

Ouma was looking at her again before he said something else "…you're not fine are you?" Ouma asked looking hesitant but as if he needed to keep talking "you… told Momota-chan that you were fine but you're not fine… that was a lie"

"What do you know about lies!?" Yumeno found herself yelling suddenly, not exactly sure where that had come from but she didn't regret it; memories or no memories Ouma had no right to lecture anyone on lies, she pulled her hat down even further, she didn't want to talk to Ouma anymore… she didn't want to think about Angie and Chabashira anymore…

Ouma seemed to flinch slightly at her words before steadying himself slightly "um… no more than anyone else I guess but… I know it isn't good to lie to yourself at least" Ouma said and he, he was wrong Yumeno wasn't lying to herself! Was she?

"From my perspective we just met, I know... but it looks like you're lying to yourself about your own feelings, and I think that might, that might be holding you back." Ouma continued hesitantly "what… what are you trying to repress? Why are you trying to hold back?" Ouma asked and his words made her remember Chabashira's.

\---  
(Expressing your feelings is perfectly natural. You shouldn't feel ashamed at all. So… if you feel like crying while you're talking to Angie, go ahead and cry your eyes out… You'll feel better when you do. Well, I mean… laughing makes you feel better too… And venting your anger onto something can really cheer you up! Train your heart by crying, laughing, and venting your anger, Yumeno-san!)  
\---

Chabashira… had told her that and she hadn't been listening even though the aikido master had always been there for her…

"u.. uuu… Uuuuuwaaaaaah!"

The tears started flowing from her eyes uncontrollably, it was like a dam had burst in her, she couldn't stop them, she didn't want to stop them, and she wanted everything she had been holding in to come out.

"Chabashira-san… Angie! I'm so lonely! I'm so lonely… without you two! But… I gotta survive! I… still can't go to where you are! But… I'm lonely! I'm so lonely without the both of you!"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!"

Yumeno continued crying as she felt someone hold her hand reassuringly as the tears just kept poring and poring as she cried and cried and cried not really aware of what was going on around her except for the fact that someone… probably Ouma was leading her to sit down on the steps of the dojo.

Some part of her was aware oh Ouma's voice whispering "It'll be alright, it'll be alright" over and over again with concern trying to sound reassuring and that part of her was aware of how weird it all was but she kept on crying until the tears left with the last of her energy and resting her head on the shoulder beside her she drifted into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ouma gets to meet more of his classmates and is seeing Momota more and more as a nice person that's probably safe. I thought it would be funny if Ouma went from someone who used to boss Iruma around to being completely overwhelmed by her, hopefully their relationship will improve. Also Yumeno's character development begins! We needed this scene because Ouma wasn't there at the trial to make her accept her emotions.


	4. Chapter 4

Saihara did not like his talent lab, to say the least, honestly, he'd always been slightly uncomfortable being a detective ever since *that case* but he had been getting better ever since he began using his talent to help everyone at the Academy thanks to the people around him like Momota and… Akamatsu. Thanks to them he felt as though he was getting stronger and more confident in his talent, to be able to face the truth.

But his talent lab just reminded him of an image of a detective that he didn't want to replicate and the entire feel of the room made him uncomfortable, everything in this room had to do with death, a reminder that here he was only able to use his talent after someone had died, that he was only useful after it was too late to even save anyone.

He could practically feel his regret sinking into him before Harukawa and Momota's words suddenly snapped him out of it as Momota walked into the lab.

At the astronauts entrance the detective suddenly felt himself perking up, glad to see his friend "Momota-kun?" he greeted as the astronaut gave him a slight smile before rubbing the back of his head with a sigh.

"With a face as gloomy as that, I can't believe you're my sidekick." Momota joked commenting on his depressed attitude from moments ago before Momota gave him a smile and pounding his fists together "Be proud of yourself, Shuichi! Everything you've done up till now is amazing!" Momota reassured as Saihara felt a bubble of happiness well up inside him.

"Ah…thanks," Saihara replied awkwardly, he still wasn't used to all the praise his classmates gave him, he might never be used to it. Nearly everyone seemed to trust him so much even trusting him with the key card motive Monokuma had given them. It was a weird feeling being relied on like this but at the same time, it was terrifying as well.

"That's why you should be careful," Harukawa warned snapping him out of his thoughts as he and Momota stared at her in confusion.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Momota asked as Harukawa sighed as if they were blind to something so incredibly obvious that she couldn't believe she was the only one that saw it.

"Because of how well you did in the class trials, future culprits have their eyes on you… The next culprit might come after you." Harukawa explained a hint of worry detectible in her tone.

"Come after me?" he found himself repeating in concern not quite believing it, though he supposed that Harukawa did have a point if someone wanted to get away with a murder and get through a class trial, it would make sense to get rid of the person whose talent was literally solving murders.

"Hey, you don't need to worry about that! I won't let anyone mess with my sidekick! I'm going to protect both of you! It's a hero's job to protect his sidekicks!" Momota announced and Saihara found himself repressing a fond laugh, though he did notice that relief had replaced some of the tension that had been building inside him.

"…What if I end up as a future culprit?" Harukawa asked suddenly and it didn't feel as though it was a legitimate question but rather something she *had* to ask.

"Are you stupid that's impossible?" Momota replied dismissively as if the very idea was too ridiculous to even to even consider.

"How… can you believe in people so easily?" Harukawa questioned in such disbelief that Saihara's felt a twinge of pain in his heart, what had Harukawa suffered through that had caused her to be so surprised by simple acts of kindness like friends believing in each other?

"Huh? Didn't I tell you before? I believe in the people I want to believe in. And if they betray me, it just means I made a bad call believing in them. Of course, you're one of the people I want to believe in, Harumaki!" Momota announced reassuringly as Harukawa was quiet for a moment and Saihara felt his mouth tug into a small smile at the scene before him, Momota and his ability to believe in others truly were incredible.

Harukawa remain quiet for a few moments before speaking again "Why are you even here? Did you figure out what Ouma wants?" Harukawa asked and ah, that's right for a moment Saihara had been completely ignoring Ouma's situation. He honestly didn't know what to think about the supreme leader who had been in his thoughts since the third trial; he had always expected trials to be smoother without the liar constantly causing trouble but in his absence it seemed as though there were a lot more puzzle pieces missing in the case as he went through it.

It made him wonder, was Shinguji just more apt at covering his tracks since he was already a murderer or was Ouma more useful in trials than any of them had ever given the liar credit for.

Saihara turned his attention over to Momota and his answer as the astronaut sighed and rubbed the back of his head "I don't think Ouma's faking it, he really doesn't remember anything" Momota told them and Saihara felt his nerves rise up at the confirmation.

He'd been pretty sure that Ouma was being genuine when he spoke to him last night but the confirmation made the detective worry about what they would do with the other boy while he was in this state, was it possible to get Ouma's memories back? Was it safe to just leave him?

Harukawa began fiddling with her ribbon looking frustrated "I told you not to let him trick you…" Harukawa muttered.

"Ah… I don't think Ouma-Kun is tricking anyone Harukawa-san from when I spoke with him last night it really does seem like his memory loss is real," Saihara tried causing Harukawa to look at him for a few moments before turning away.

"He really isn't faking I don't think even Ouma is that good of a liar, trust me just have one conversation with the guy and you'll see that I'm right." Momota tried reassuringly though Harukawa looked as though she remained unconvinced. "Anyway! I came to find you guys to see how you were doing and look what I found! It's a flashback light!" Momota said proudly holding up the light while obviously changing the subject, which Saihara would gladly welcome.

"Ah, you found one!" Saihara said excitedly as Momota grinned at him, the flashback lights were important they were clues to their missing memories and why they were trapped in this Academy. 

"What's going on with Ouma is important, but I think we should deal with this first. So let's all gather in the dining hall! I already told a few people on my way here!" Momota said turning to Harukawa who looked surprised at being addressed.

"…Huh? I'm coming too?" Harukawa said in surprise as if she still didn't quite believe her inclusion in the group after the reveal of her talent to which as he always did in the face of someone's insecurities Momota gave her a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.

"Of course, what kind of hero would leave one of his sidekicks behind," Momota said as Harukawa huffed at his words and Saihara found himself trying to hide the smile that had begun to form on his face.

"Whatever," Harukawa said in a huff suddenly seeming very interested in playing with her hair as Momota chuckled slightly.

"All right! I already told Shirogane to get the others so they all should be waiting in the dining hall so if you're ready let's go," Momota said already heading out as Saihara and Harukawa followed the astronaut a moment later.

"…You're not even complaining. You seriously *are* his sidekick now." Harukawa said to him though there was a certain fondness in her voice that caused him to laugh awkwardly, he couldn't even argue with that. "You never complain about Momota's attitude… I guess you're really taken in to being his sidekick" Harukawa continued though this time she wasn't looking at him but rather staring at Momota's figure ahead of them as they made their way to the dining hall.

The dining hall itself had become a sort of meet up place so it wasn't surprising that Momota had wanted everyone to go there what was surprising was that it was empty by the time the three of them arrived there.

"What gives? I thought you said they would be here already," Harukawa commented in an annoyed tone of voice as Momota looked at the dining hall in confusion.

"I'm not sure, maybe they got distracted by something?" Momota suggested rubbing the back of his head when in that moment Shirogane walked into the dining hall looking relieved to see them.

"Oh good you're all here, I thought I'd have to look for you three," Shirogane said walking over to them with a smile though also looking like she had run all the way to the dining hall.

"Shirogane-san where is everyone? I thought Momota-Kun told everyone to meet here," Saihara asked trying to figure out what was going on as Shirogane began to look slightly sheepish.

"Oh well I was getting everyone to meet up but we plainly got a bit distracted," Shirogane explained still looking a bit sheepish but there was a twitch of a smile on her lips as she remembered whatever ‘distracted' everyone from meeting up.

"…Distracted?" he repeated hesitantly trying to find more information as Shirogane who simply smiled at him before letting out a slight giggle.

"It's nothing bad, it's actually really cute but well… it's kind of hard to explain, it would better if you see it for yourself," Shirogane explained as she led the three of them out of the dining hall and towards Chabashira's old talent lab, which seemed to catch Momota's attention.

"Huh? This is where I left Ouma with Yumeno," the astronaut stated getting both the assassin's and detective's attention immediately.

"I should have known he'd be behind whatever's going on," Harukawa hissed angrily and Momota immediately moved to try and calm her down.

"Hang on a second Harumaki, Shirogane said it wasn't anything bad and even if it was I'm sure it was a misunderstanding," Momota defended and Saihara found himself having to take a moment to process the other boys words because he had never thought that Momota would ever try to defend Ouma of all people and it made the detective wonder what exactly happened when Momota had gone to check on the liar.

He found himself placing his hand over his mouth as he thought about his short encounter with the supreme leader last night, he should have been paying attention to Ouma himself probably but at the time he was focused on simply getting as much information as he could about the situation and also worrying if Monokuma would somehow turn Ouma's condition into another motive, the keycard that he received later however allowed him to discard that particular worry. Looking back though something he noted as odd was that Ouma seemed a lot easier to read. There were times where Saihara had briefly considered Ouma his opposite. He was supposed to find the truth while the other boy relished in covering himself with lies, it was one of the reasons he thought he may never understand the supreme leader.

But in that moment as he had been questioning Ouma it didn't feel as if he was talking to the embodiment of the opposite of everything that he believed in or some complex puzzle that no person could really solve without losing their sanity. It just felt like talking to a scared kid, Saihara had discarded that thought at the time because it was Ouma and he knew from day one that he shouldn't take the liar seriously but maybe he shouldn't have.

"Let's just go," Harukawa said in frustration snapping him out of his thoughts as they made their way to the entrance of the dojo where everyone else had formed a group looking at something, Iruma was laughing at something while Kiibo desperately tried to quiet her.

"Iruma-san please Ouma-kun probably needs rest due to his injury and Yumeno-san has had an emotionally taxing experience please do not wake them!" Kiibo said desperately as Iruma only laughed more.

"Come on, the two shorties should wake up already so we can ask them if they did it!" Iruma declared and Saihara felt himself fighting down a sigh and decided that he should probably say something or they would never get anywhere.

"What's going on?" he asked as everyone who had gathered around the dojo suddenly realized his presence along with Momota and Harukawa, both Kiibo and Gonta greeted them with a wave.

"We were just wondering if we should wake up Ouma-kun and Yumeno-san" Gonta explained as Saihara looked at them curiously wondering what that was supposed to mean.

They were all looking at the dojo steps so that was probably where he would get answers, with that thought in mind the detective made his way to the front of the group only to be surprised at what he saw.

There sitting on the dojo steps leaning on each other was a sleeping Ouma and Yumeno, Yumeno's head resting on Ouma's shoulder, if he looked closely there seemed to be tear tracks on there faces… Had they both been crying? He couldn't be sure without asking one of them.

"Isn't it cute they're even holding hands," Shirogane noted as Saihara stared at the scene before him. He never thought that someone would describe a situation with Ouma in it as cute before but he could see how the Cosplayer would say that.

Ouma did look a lot more peaceful in that moment than Saihara had ever seen him before and it almost made him want to smile fondly, almost. It did make him wonder what the hell happened here that led to the scene he was looking at though.

\---

Harukawa Maki knew that Ouma Kokichi should not be trusted. Harukawa knew this from day one when they had all met each other, at first she had thought of him as a brat when she saw him chasing Kiibo around the school. She had a feeling he'd get on her nerves but nothing to concern herself with as she tried to figure out what was going on.

And then he spoke to her.

To anyone it would have seemed simple enough he had asked a simple question, "What's Harukawa-chan's talent?" though asked so expectantly as if she were under a microscope it was a simple question. They all knew they were all Super High School Level, everyone was asking each other about their talents, in fact, they practically included whatever talent they had in their introductions the most she should have taken from that question was being annoyed at his childish address of her. There was one problem though.

She had never told Ouma her name.

She wanted to brush it off and think that he had probably just heard it from someone else she had already spoken to in passing but when she answered with child caregiver, the talent that some part of her deep down wished was actually her talent instead of assassination Ouma became very still and for a second so quick that if she had blinked she would have missed it his eyes narrowed and she could have sworn he looked angry before immediately he switched to a mocking appearance and started commenting that her talent didn't suit her at all.

That interaction was all she needed to be able to tell, he knew. He knew about her, he knew who and what she was before she had even spoken a word to him and that made him a danger to her.

There was also this feeling, a familiarity that she knew him, this feeling that she had met him somewhere before but that would be impossible since after she left the orphanage she barely had the chance to meet anyone who wasn't in some way related to her life as an assassin until getting trapped in this hell hole of an academy which means that she could only assume Ouma was somehow related to the underworld just like her which only meant one thing.

Ouma Kokichi was dangerous and could not be trusted.

That belief proved correct time and time again as Ouma began to mock and goad her, she knew what his comment in the first trial on how she could ‘totally kill someone' meant, what he was really trying to say.

That she was a killer, that she had killed to survive before and she could, she would do it again. It was true and it pissed her off, it was as if Ouma was presenting her with everything she hated about herself and she couldn't stand it.

And he just did it again and again, accusing her in the second trial and then practically saying that she had driven Hoshi to his death. Her hate for the liar just grew more and more; there was some part of her that wondered if she was just putting the hate she had for herself on to someone else but she didn't care.

And then he revealed her talent for everyone to see and she swore that if she wasn't being watched; if she weren't in this killing game she would have killed him right then and there. How dare he? How dare he!? Reveal her secrets when he was nothing but a liar hiding his own.

As Harukawa made her way towards the dormitories with one destination in mind her hand twitched at the memory of the look in his eyes as she held his throat, a look of defiance as if *she* and wronged *him* somehow and this was his justice. It just pissed her off even more.

After the reveal of her talent she had expected to be alone, she had expected to be hated, she was an assassin… a killer… a monster… but then Momota appeared and it felt like he *saw* her, as if he knew a goodness in her that even she didn't know was there. The astronaut didn't treat her as a weapon for killing he treated her as a person, saying that he wanted her as his sidekick and after him came Saihara's friendship and then everyone else started to accept her as well in small ways.

It was something she could have only dreamed of before, so she made a decision. She had to protect these people, which led her to where she was now in the dormitories outside Ouma's room.

When they had all found Ouma and Yumeno sleeping they had decided to let them keep sleeping and Gonta had taken them both to their respective rooms, afterwards, they talked about what to do with the flashback light deciding to at least wait until Yumeno woke up before using it.

The assassin knew how to wait, so she spent time with Saihara and Momota until she was sure that Ouma would be awake and made her move.

Harukawa figured that with Ouma's ‘injury' they probably wouldn't lock the door when he was sleeping in case anything happened to him which means she could get in easily, the door swinging open as she turned the handle was proof of this.

She didn't know why Ouma claimed to have lost his memory, but there had to be a reason, he had to be manipulating them all somehow and from the looks of it he had even managed to trick Momota. The astronaut had even taken some papers they had found by the sleeping liar and wouldn't even let Saihara see them simply saying they were something Ouma wanted to show the detective himself.

She couldn't let this go on and Harukawa would not consider the alternative that Ouma was actually being truthful for once because he was not allowed to just forget everything he did to her as if he had done nothing wrong!

She watched as Ouma started in shock at his door suddenly opening putting down some boxes that he had been moving staring at her awkwardly, looking at her nervously as she stepped inside his room and closed the door behind her.

They stood in silence for a while before Ouma finally opened his mouth, "um… hi?" as soon as a word fell from his lips she moved and put her hands around his throat lifting him up as he struggled weakly, there was no defiance in his eyes now only fear and what looked like the beginnings of what might be tears.

"Shut up and listen," the assassin began coldly "I don't believe for a second that you've actually lost your memory. Now I don't know what you're planning or what you hope to get out of this but I want you to know that if you do anything to hurt anyone here I will make you regret it." And with those words, she dropped him and watched as Ouma unceremoniously fell to the floor as he began rubbing at the bruises already forming around his neck and while he coughs as he gasps for the air that he had been denied while she was holding him.

Harukawa finds herself watching until Ouma finally catches his breath and turns his gaze to her, he's shaking like a leaf and looks absolutely terrified with tears threatening to spill from his eyes looking for all the world like a scared lost child.

Harukawa turns away and leaves as she tries to ignore an uncomfortable feeling of guilt that formed in her stomach telling her as she thinks of Ouma's trembling figure and terrified eyes that she might be wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harukawa no! Also I just realized that so far Ouma has spent this fic either unconscious or completely overwhelmed by what's going on. Also you can pry the headcanon that Ouma and Harukawa are from the same orphanage and their entire relationship was just filled with tragic misunderstandings from my cold dead hands.


	5. Chapter 5

Despite all the crazy stuff happening recently Momota thought things were actually going well for them all he was a little worried about all the commotion Yumeno and Ouma taking a nap outside Chabashira's talent lab caused but after everything those two had been through Momota guesses they deserved a nap especially since they were both so small so they probably tired out easily.

Everyone decided to put the flashback light on hold while they waited for Yumeno and Ouma to wake up because it wouldn't be right not to include them, these were their memories too after all! Though something told Momota that some of the others were also looking for excuses not to use the flashback light, some of them still might think Angie had a point in not using them or at least those who were in the artist's student council would. But they couldn't run away from this! They had to face it head on and beat the mastermind and Monokuma and those memories were clues on how to do it!

Despite the hesitations some of them had Momota believed in all of them and he knew that they could all get out of here. There was no way Monokuma was going to beat them!

So with that thought in mind the astronaut was prepared to wait and spent most of his time with Shuichi and Harumaki which was great, both of them were amazing people and he was beyond proud that he was able to call them his sidekicks; though after a while Harumaki left to go do something which wasn't concerning at the time but when he saw her again she looked uncomfortable and avoided any questions he had on what happened simply telling him that he was imagining things before heading to her lab.

That alone was enough to make the astronaut worry and he resolved to check on her as soon as he was done checking on Yumeno and Ouma who would probably be up right now. While Momota was sure there was nothing to worry about it couldn't hurt to check on two people who had fallen asleep outside.

Or as outside as they could be while the dome encompassed the entire academy.

Momota also wanted to check on Yumeno because of how down she had been acting since the third trial and something needed to be done about that, the astronaut was toying with the idea of inviting the magician to the nightly training he had set up as he entered the dorms when he heard Shirogane's desperate pleas. 

"Ouma-kun? Ouma-kun please open the door," Shirogane said nocking on Ouma's door holding a basin of water and some bandages looking worried before turning to Yumeno "I don't know what to do, he's not answering what if he's hurt himself?" Shirogane said before Yumeno walked over to the door herself looking worried but determined.

"Hey, Ouma open up! It's not good to lock yourself in your room all day!" Yumeno declared pounding on the door and Momota had to take a slight step back at the small magician's sudden burst in energy, Shirogane's eyebrows raised but the Cosplayer didn't look as surprised as Momota felt so he could guess that Yumeno had probably been like that since she woke up.

There was a moment of silence when Yumeno stopped nocking before a hesitant, trembling voice answered through the still shut door, "I-it's okay… I'm fine…" and at that sound, Momota found himself already walking up the stairs to see what the hell was going on because while it was weird a hell to hear Ouma sound genuinely scared about something the astronaut couldn't let any of his classmates sound like that ever.

"Why did he only say something when you asked?" Shirogane complained looking slightly disheartened while Yumeno puffed up her chest looking proud.

"That's because I made a commanding spell to get him to speak," Yumeno informed the other girl though the slight quirk of her lip signifying a smile seemed to hint that she might be joking.

"He still didn't open the door though," Shirogane noted before perking up once Momota waved to her to grab her attention as he walked up to them "Oh Momota-kun good you're here maybe you can help!" Shirogane said excitedly and the words automatically brought a smile to his face.

"Of course I can help just leave it to me!" Momota declared proudly giving both girls a reassuring thumbs up though a more logical part of his brain told him that he should find out what's going on first before promising anything he didn't want anyone to worry if he could help it especially since if everyone was worried or scared all the time they'd never beat Monokuma!

Looking down at Yumeno the astronaut was struck with the fact that the girl was looking better than she had since the third case had even started, maybe even since the killing game started "Hey Yumeno how are you doing?" Momota found himself automatically asking as before he felt the magician needed checking on especially when she'd only answer in a half-hearted ‘I'm fine' before when it was clear that she was still downtrodden, this time when he asked, however, Yumeno gave a slight smile.

"I'm okay, I… I miss Angie and Chabashira a lot… and it feels lonely without them, but I want to get stronger and I have to keep moving forward for both of them so I'm going to be okay," Yumeno told him though it was also almost as though she was telling herself as well.

There was a moment where the astronaut felt slightly taken aback by the smaller girls sudden change in attitude before he felt a proud smile make its way onto his face; it looks like Yumeno didn't need him to do anything, after all, she managed to beat her enemies all by herself and this time when the magician had told him that she was okay Momota knew she actually was.

"That's the spirit!" Momota praised as he saw a faint blush form on Yumeno's face before he finally looked away from the mage, turning to Shirogane to find out what all the fuss earlier was about, "so what's happening?" he asked and the Cosplayer who had also been looking slightly proudly at Yumeno nearly jumped at being addressed which almost made Momota want to sigh. Shirogane was a good person but she really needed to work on that habit of hers where she expected to just fade into the background.

"Well when we were taking Ouma-kun back to his room earlier I noticed that he had bandages which plainly makes sense since he had a head injury but I also read somewhere that you should change bandages like that regularly so I came over to make sure that Ouma-kun has clean bandages to plainly make sure his wound doesn't get infected," Shirogane explained holding up the clean bandages she was carrying for emphasis before sighing the Cosplayer's shoulders drooping slightly in what looked like disappointment, "at least that was what I tried to do but Ouma-kun just plain won't open the door," Shirogane said dejectedly looking at the door that still remained closed.

"He did speak to us when I nocked though," Yumeno added looking proud at the fact as Momota sighed and rubbed the back of his head trying to figure out what the hell was going on with Ouma now, whatever was going on though Momota didn't think it was anything malicious, that didn't seem to be Ouma's style anymore now that his memories were missing the smaller boy seemed too overwhelmed by everything going on around him to really do any plotting against them.

"You haven't introduced yourself yet so he's probably just too nervous to open the door," Momota reasoned and yeah that definitely made sense, right now Ouma acted way more nervous than he usually did which made sense since he didn't know anyone or anything about their situation and that was probably why the smaller boy seemed to scare easily now. Though thinking back to the Supreme Leader's talk of how they shouldn't trust each other and how he always resorted to lies when dealing with the rest of them Momota wondered if Ouma had always scared easily and that mocking and lying to them all the time was the liar's way of dealing with his fear.

Cornered animals are known to lash out after all.

The thought made Momota want to frown because they were all scared deep down, the situation they were in was crazy but it was frustrating that Ouma literally had to lose his memories and forget whatever mask he had been making for himself before admitting he was scared.

Trying to distract himself from his thoughts because trying to figure out Ouma Kokichi was always a frustrating headache and Momota would rather focus on what was happening right now, the astronaut turned to the two girls and gave them a bright smile and a reassuring thumbs up. "Don't worry I'll get him to open up!" he promised as he made his way over to Ouma's door knocking a couple of times before speaking into the door hoping Ouma was listening "hey Ouma, it's me could you open the door?" he asked and there was a long stretch of silence where Momota was worried that the door would remain shut and Ouma would simply tell them he was alright like he had with Yumeno but then the moment passed as the astronaut heard quiet shuffling on the other side of the door before it opened slightly.

Momota was reminded of this morning when he brought Ouma his breakfast as Ouma peaked through the door somehow looking even more scared and nervous than he had before though there was something that almost looked like relief in the smaller boy as Ouma spotted Momota even if the door did not open any further.

"O-oh hi Momota-chan… has… has anything happened?" Ouma asked forcing a smile onto his face voice trembling and horse as if he had just been crying causing Momota to frown in concern. The astronaut found himself looking at Ouma for a bit trying to figure out what happened Ouma quickly noticing and began trying to make himself smaller and ducking even further behind the door until he was nearly out of sight.

The prospect of Ouma retreating into himself and possibly shutting the door and refusing to open up again caused Momota to discard his examination of the other boy as he rushed to tell Ouma why they were here "you need to change your bandages, it's not good if you don't take care of yourself you know?" Momota said and Ouma's eyes widened in understanding nodding slightly.

"Oh right, sorry" Ouma muttered opening the door more fully allowing the three waiting outside to step into the room, a slight gasp escaping Shirogane's lips upon entering looking around at all the boxes while Ouma stood awkwardly to the side.

"Sorry if I scared you earlier, I should have realized that you wouldn't remember someone plain as me," Shirogane said as she put everything she was holding down by the bedside her words seeming to push Ouma out of whatever thoughts he had been having as the supreme leader's eyes widened and he began shaking his head in protest.

"No! No, I don't remember anyone, not just you-" Ouma began to say looking slightly panicked before Shirogane let out a slight laugh and began waving a hand dismissively to get Ouma to calm down.

"Don't worry I'm just joking!" Shirogane explained looking as though she was trying to fight a smile before examining Ouma "but wow you really are different right now, before you'd never try and make me feel better it's like looking at the difference between Yugi and Yami." Shirogane noted making another reference that Momota thinks he might have understood this time? Though the astronaut was paying less attention to the Cosplayer's references and more in the way Ouma seemed to try and make himself smaller at the mention of the difference in his actions.

Momota felt a slight frown threaten to make it's way on to his face as Shirogane motioned for Ouma to sit on the bed and the other boy nervously complied though the way he sat, trying to take up as little space as possible Ouma's entire body language seems to be that he was trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible which was the exact opposite to the Ouma they had all become used to.

With Ouma seemingly losing his confidence along with his memories and Yumeno suddenly becoming energetic? Momota shook his head trying to suppress a sigh, the astronaut cared about everyone here but sometimes it was hard to keep track of them all.

Still, Ouma seemed even more unsure than he did this morning and Momota resolved to get the other boy to spit out whatever happened or the uncomfortable feeling Momota had at seeing Ouma practically ready to jump at his own shadow was going to bother him forever.

The astronaut's respect for the Cosplayer grew slightly as Shirogane remained completely unaffected by the change in Ouma's usual demeanour, simply taking off the supreme leaders bandages and began cleaning the healing cut on Ouma's head, "oh by the way my name is Shirogane Tsumugi. I'm the Super High School Level Cosplayer." Shirogane introduced as she worked.

"Oh, um it's nice to meet you and thanks… for this. I'm, I'm Ouma Kokichi," Ouma muttered quietly as Shirogane smiled and giggled slightly.

"I already know who you are," Shirogane said in amusement as an embarrassed blush appeared on Ouma's face, it was a nice thing to see actually. Before, Momota hadn't realized how controlled all Ouma's facial expressions were until seeing what Ouma looked like when he wasn't constantly controlling what the rest of them saw. The astronaut decided he liked seeing Ouma's more honest expressions they seemed to fit him more and it made talking to him a lot easier.

"Still it's good that you introduced yourself!" Yumeno suddenly said enthusiastically losing interest in the whiteboard that Ouma had set up in his room, part of Momota wanted to know where the hell Ouma even got pictures of them all in the first place but the astronaut knew that even if he asked Ouma would have no clue to the answer either anymore.

Ignoring the liar's weirdness Momota decided that right now it would probably be best to encourage Yumeno's new attitude, it also couldn't hurt to try and cheer Ouma up a little bit. "Yeah be proud when you introduce yourself! It's you declaring to the world who you are!" Momota added to Yumeno's statement in agreement pounding his fists together for emphasis.

Ouma seemed to turn a slightly brighter shade of red at the encouragement but Momota could see a little twitch of a smile that the smaller boy was trying to hold down. "I guess…" Ouma mumbled before turning his gaze over to Yumeno "so…um, how are you feeling Yumeno-chan?" Ouma asked nervously attention focused on the small girl.

Yumeno simply gave a smile that was a mix of proud and reassuring before answering "don't worry about me, there's not much that can keep a mage down I'm going to be fine" Yumeno said and Ouma instantly seemed less nervous a relieved smile forming on his face.

"Really? That's great," Ouma said as Yumeno looked away with a happy blush appeared on the magician's face.

"So are you gonna tell us what had you so spooked you wouldn't open the door?" Momota asked casually, he was curious and he was beginning to doubt that it was just because Ouma didn't know Shirogane yet. He had a hunch that it was something more and he'd regret not trying to get to the bottom of it.

At the question, Ouma immediately froze the smile dropping as he began to squirm slightly looking as though he wanted to get away from the astronauts gaze but couldn't due to Shirogane fitting on a new set of bandages. Momota wondered if Shirogane was working slightly slower than she should to extend the conversation if she was he'd have to find a way to thank her later.

"I… i-it's nothing! Really…" Ouma mumbled looking down and away from Momota's and Yumeno's questioning gazes. Momota felt himself start to frown because there was no way he was going to believe nothing happened now.

"It's okay we won't be mad or anything," Yumeno suddenly reassured though there was worry clear on her face. There were a few beats of silence, as Ouma seemed to be debating something in his head before he spoke.

"Did… did something happen between me and that Harumaki-chan girl?" Ouma asked suddenly though nervously as if he had to force himself to ask.

Momota really wishes they could have responded to Ouma's question with something better than surprised silence as they tried to comprehend what he just asked. There wasn't exactly anything wrong with the question itself but there was just one point of it that tripped the rest of them up.

"Um, Ouma-kun. What did you just call her?" Shirogane asked hesitantly as Ouma looked at the Cosplayer in confusion clearly not expecting that to be the direction the conversation would take in response to his question.

"Um… Harumaki-chan? That's her name, right? I mean she never actually introduced herself to me like Saihara-chan did but Momota told that that the two people who were with him were Shuichi and Harumaki so I thought that must be her name, it's a little strange but I didn't want to judge…" Ouma explained trailing off nervously towards the end of the explanation as everyone else's eyes widened in realization. Oh, oh, oooh Momota could see what happened here.

"Yes. That is exactly her name." Yumeno said jokingly trying to look serious but seemed to be unable to prevent the smirk on her face while Shirogane tried to hide her laugh behind her hands.

Momota let a slight laugh escape from his lips before responding to Ouma's confused look, which was beginning to look slightly embarrassed as the smaller boy began to realize that he must have slipped up.

"Harumaki's a nickname I came up with for her, we're close since she's one of my sidekicks so I get to call her that, her full name's actually Harukawa Maki," Momota explained as Ouma's eyes widened in realization and the supreme leader began hiding his flushing face in his hands.

"Oh nooooooooo"

"Hey it's not that bad," Momota tried to reassure "what did you call her Harumaki?" Momota asked trying not to wince at that thought because he couldn't imagine that going over well, especially while the girl was still convinced that Ouma was faking.

"No… thank god but she, she… earlier she told me she thought I was faking and basically told me to cut it out I guess…" Ouma said trailing off towards the end his embarrassment fading to more sombre emotions.

Momota signed as he rubbed the back of his head, yeah that explained a lot of things. It was also probably why Harumaki had been acting so uncomfortable earlier; whatever happened Harumaki could probably tell deep down that Ouma wasn't faking but at the same time she still didn't want to believe the liar was being genuine. "Sorry about that, Harumaki really is a good person it's just that you gave her a hard time before so she's probably having a hard time moving past that," Momota tried to explain.

"Oh," Ouma muttered looking down and Momota could practically see the gears turning in the other boy's head.

"Well that's finished, you should probably change those bandages regularly so if you need any help with that you can always come find me okay?" Shirogane suddenly said starting Ouma and Momota out of the thoughts their conversation brought on and Ouma hesitantly nodded in response to Shirogane's instructions.

"Okay now that that's settled, Ouma! I'm going to show you around the school!" Yumeno suddenly declared excitedly grabbing the attention of everyone in the room "you didn't get to see most of it because of the nap we took but I can show you around. My location magic is second to none." Yumeno explained and Momota let a smile form on his face, this course of action was perfect!

"All right! That sounds like the perfect thing to do! I'll come too!" Momota declared giving a thumbs up in approval at the idea as Ouma looked at the astronaut and the magician as if he didn't know how to respond.

"Oh, and if we find Shuichi you can finally show him those papers right?" Momota asked as Ouma's eyes sparked in realization and scrambled over to where Momota had left the papers for him when they had dropped a sleeping Ouma off in his room.

"All right let's go!" Yumeno yelled raising her arms in the air excitedly once Ouma had picked up the papers and Yumeno grabbed the supreme leaders arm and began dragging him to the door.

Momota found himself letting out a slight laugh at the scene following them before looking down at Ouma "don't worry about Harumaki, you just need to make things up to her and prove you aren't faking," Momota reassured bringing his fists together to emphasize the point and found his smile grow wider as Ouma gave a hesitant nod of agreement.

\---

Shirogane watched with a smile on her face as she watched Yumeno and Momota drag Ouma off to re-explore the school, she had been worried at first but this had been going better than she had thought.

As the mastermind of this game Shirogane knew she was basically primarily responsible for the characters of those participating in this killing game, still, something must have gone wrong with one Ouma Kokichi. She had wanted a Nagito Komaeda like character in the sense that she knew the game would need someone to cause trouble and doubt amongst those in the killing game but unfortunately whether the others realized it or not Ouma had been causing more trouble for the killing game than he had for his fellow participants.

Oh, the liar had been smart about his actions, presenting the character that caused nothing but trouble and mischief on the outside but Shirogane knew he was doing more to end the killing game than everyone else in the school combined. She didn't know how much he knew though and that was a problem, she supposed she could make Monokuma simply say Ouma broke a rule and deal with him that way but that would come across rather unsatisfying.

Then when Ouma managed to render himself unconscious the perfect solution came to her. Shirogane didn't need to stop Ouma's investigation, she just needed to pause it.

Once a person was rewritten with the flashback lights, all their original memories would be gone forever. However, a few traces of that person's original personality would remain, if another flashback light was used to repress the new personality the original would temporarily return, without any memories of course but it would be dominant once again until the new personality resurfaced.

What happened after Ouma returned to ‘himself' Shirogane wasn't quite sure, there was a slight risk of personalities merging but for someone as stubborn as Ouma was written to be she doubted that was a legitimate concern. But for now Ouma wouldn't be causing her any trouble poking his nose where he shouldn't, and this really was an interesting plot line that the Cosplayer could already tell would be fun to explore.

Besides Ouma really was cuter this way.

\---

*The night before*

Ouma woke with a pain in his head as he tried to assess the situation, he was in his room but he didn't remember coming here. Did someone bring him? Reaching up to touch his head he could feel bandages and the supreme leader was suddenly hit with the memory of falling through the floorboards. 

Well, that sucked and hurt but at least that confirmed that Shinguji was the culprit like he had thought. Ignoring the pain in his head Ouma tried to get up, he didn't want to face the consequences if he didn't attend a trial. The mastermind was probably waiting for him to slip up after all.

"You shouldn't move around with a head injury you know," an all too horribly familiar voice suddenly said causing Ouma to freeze as he realized he wasn't alone, of course, that fucking bear would already be here.

Ouma let out a childish wine ignoring the fact that acting was probably going to make his headache worse "but Monokuma I can't miss the super fun trial, the others would be so completely lost without me to throw them clues!" Ouma complained though he was exaggerating slightly for the sake of performance it was worryingly accurate.

Sometimes Ouma wondered if these people would have ever survived a trial if it weren't for Saihara.

"Oh you don't need to worry about the trial, your injury means you're excused" Monokuma said dismissively causing Ouma to narrow his eyes, this wasn't good these trials were paramount for this sick game if Monokuma was letting him skip a trial that was only because he had something possibly worse planned for him.

"Well, I'm feeling all better now and raring to go so you can just-" Ouma began when Monokuma interrupted him as the bear looked at everything Ouma had collected in these investigations.

"You sure have done more than your fair share trying to find the secrets of this academy," Monokuma noted and Ouma had to force himself to stay calm. He could do this; whatever Monokuma was up to he could get out of it.

"Well duh, games aren't fun if you aren't giving your all you know?" Ouma said dismissively in a bored tone of voice that conveyed none of the panic he was feeling inside. If Ouma ever made it out of this god-forsaken academy alive he deserved a fucking Oscar.

"Upupupu, you sure hit the nail on the head with that one, in fact as far as this game goes I say compared to all your classmates in investigating my fine academy you might be in first place! And you know what happens to people in first place?" Monokuma asked holding up a flashback light looking as if he had just told an inside joke.

"They get a prize?" Ouma responded, his answer practically a question as he tried to figure out what the bear was planning, whatever was on that flashback light he'd have to be careful if Monokuma was going out of his way to show specifically him it couldn't be good. It was a good thing Ouma never quite believed in something as suspicious as the flashback lights in the first place so hopefully, this wouldn't go the way Monokuma had planned.

Monokuma examined Ouma for a few seconds before laughing as if he had just been told the most amazing joke in the world and after a few seconds, Monokuma finally stopped before pointing the flashback light at him "they get blue shelled" Monokuma said immediately flipping the switch and Ouma found himself swallowed by light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wouldn't be V3 is Maki didn't have to face practically zero negative consequences for her actions. Anyway here's the reason for Ouma's amnesia, it's what I originally planned when I started the fic then I decided not to use it and now I decided to use it again despite it being hard to convey. I like to think that as far as Shirogane is concerned pregame Ouma is her favorite out of everyone's original personalities because I once saw a post saying in game Ouma is probably Shirogane's least favorite out of her classmates on tumblr. 
> 
> Sorry for the wait for this chapter, wanted to update my other fic. Also Ouma's known these people for less than a day and Momota is his favorite primarily because he's had the most interaction with him.


	6. Chapter 6

Saihara knew he should probably destroy the keycard; it was a motive. Whatever the card led to, whatever it opened would only cause them all nothing but trouble. It wasn't like Monokuma would ever give them anything to actually help them, all that damn bear wanted was for them to suffer… but despite knowing all that, despite knowing the risks, despite the fact that everyone had trusted him with the keycard because they believed he was the best person to hold on to it there was one place that he had to no needed to check.

That's how Saihara found himself in the library, a place that he had honestly been avoiding since the first trial trying to work up the nerve to move that damn bookcase.

As soon as Monokuma had handed them the keycard motive at breakfast Saihara's mind had instantly made its way here, he had tried to ignore it and distract himself by investigating the school and hanging out with Momota and Harukawa which had worked for a little while, but then Harukawa had begun to act strangely before going off on her own and they all separated to do their own thing and without his friends to distract him it felt as though the keycard was growing heavier in his pocket with every passing second until without even realizing he was doing it he was walking down the stairs in the direction of the library. Saihara wasn't planning to really do anything with the keycard, he just needed to check. That was what he told himself as he began moving the bookcase.

He hadn't forgotten his original deduction, that there was a mastermind among them. It had practically gotten Akamatsu and Amami killed, after all, it was hard to forget that mistake. Saihara honestly wanted to believe in everyone here, especially after all the time he had spent with Momota. He had no idea where he'd be if it wasn't for the astronauts belief in him, he certainly wouldn't be able to find the strength to face the truth during every class trial that's for sure and after everything all of them had been through so far Saihara really didn't want to doubt any of them but… he had to know. He had to know if there really was a mastermind hiding among them and if Akamatsu really did die trying to stop them and save everyone instead of dying for nothing because of his poor deductions.

It took a while, he found himself lost in his own thoughts simply staring at the door to the hidden room trying to steady his own heartbeat that seemed to be pounding out of his chest. Eventually though he somehow managed to get himself to take the keycard out and trying to ignore the fact that his hand were trembling slightly he slid the card into the scanner.

He wasn't sure what he had been expecting honestly but when a small light flashed at him and the door still remained locked everything seemed to fall flat. He wasn't sure if it was relief or disappointment he felt as he let the bookcase close with a sigh, but this was fine. It really was. He had checked the one place he really wanted to check so now there was nothing he really wanted to do with the keycard; it would be best for everyone if he just ignored the thing from now on.

"And if you go through here you'll be able to find the library!" Yumeno's oddly cheerful voice sounded out from towards the entrance of the library knocking Saihara out of his thoughts. There was a moment where he felt at a complete loss at what to do except stand there frozen as the sound of footsteps got closer and closer, he'd been so lost in his own thoughts that being knocked out of them was a bit of a surprise but other than that Yumeno sounding so energetic threw him slightly through a loop.

When he had last spoken the magician, sorry mage she was barely speaking at all looking too downtrodden to do anything, which was understandable after what happened to Chabashira and Angie. Saihara had decided the best thing for Yumeno would probably be to just give her some space, after all, he remembered how he felt after the first trial… still, though he wasn't expecting her to get over it so suddenly or to somehow be more energetic than she was when the game started.

The door to the library was pushed open and Saihara was met with the odd sight of Yumeno pulling Ouma along; the image was odd in and of itself considering how much Yumeno had hated Ouma for constantly teasing her before but the look on Ouma's face expectant and curious and open as the supreme leader paid attention to everything Yumeno was saying while still trying to take in and take note of his surroundings really seemed to drive home that Ouma wasn't ‘himself' at the moment as Monokuma had put it.

There was a part of Saihara that wanted to simply watch and take note of what was happening, there were still some things that concerned him about Ouma's amnesia but the other boy seemed to feel his gaze almost immediately eyes darting over to where Saihara was standing. There was a brief moment where their gaze was locked on one another each observing the other for a few brief seconds before surprisingly Ouma looked away first the liar turning his attention towards something on the other side of the entrance. Saihara almost found himself starting back in surprise that Ouma was the one to look away first, the other boy never really felt like the type to ever actually back down from anything and Saihara himself was still working on things like making eye contact. That brief second where he and Ouma were observing each other almost felt familiar as sometimes it felt as though the liar could see through everything but then the familiarity ended, as Ouma seemed to realize what he was doing and the smaller boy quickly turned away in what almost looked like embarrassment reminding Saihara that he was dealing with a different Ouma.

It was a slightly frustrating thought considering he barely knew what to think of the regular Ouma, to begin with.

"Shuichi what are you doing here?" A familiar and friendly voice asked as Momota began to follow Ouma and Yumeno into the library catching Saihara off guard; he'd been so focused on Ouma that he hadn't noticed Momota coming in as well. Putting thoughts of the liar away, for now, he decided it was probably best to just focus on Momota, it was always good to see Momota though it was weird that the astronaut was with Ouma and Yumeno but Saihara supposes he must have a good reason.

Though with Momota's question Saihara suddenly found himself frozen for a completely different reason than surprise or confusion, he had no idea how to explain why he was here. It wasn't as though he was doing anything bad really he just needed to check but the others had trusted him with the keycard motive and they trusted him to make sure it wasn't used. What would Momota say if he found out that he had just tried to use it?

"Oh… I just needed to check something…" Saihara answered as honestly as he could without explicitly saying what he had come to the library for. He found his hand subconsciously lifting up to pull down a hat that was no longer there causing him to wince internally. He was trying to take steps to become stronger and more confident in himself but old habits died hard it seems with or without his hat. "What are you doing here Momota-kun?" he asked hoping to change the topic away from himself.

Momota grinned and pointed a thumb towards Ouma and Yumeno before answering "me and Yumeno are showing Ouma around the school since he doesn't remember it anymore," Momota explained as Saihara nodded he supposes reintroducing Ouma to the school would be necessary, he found his gaze wandering over to Ouma only to find Ouma was looking at him again.

"Actually it's perfect that you're here Shuichi, Ouma has something he needs to show you!" Momota announced putting his fists together, a habit the astronaut had whenever he was excited about something or needed to hammer in a point and Saihara felt his eyebrows rising as Ouma started back whether it was from him being caught looking at him or the fact that Momota just mentioned him Saihara had no idea.

"He does?" Saihara found himself asking hesitantly, Momota was the one who brought it up so he doubted that it was anything bad but it was an almost instinctive response to feel a sense of foreboding at anything the supreme leader presented at this point.

Momota nodded slightly in response as he nudged Ouma forward, the smaller boy was clutching onto some papers that Saihara recognized that Momota had picked up when they had found Ouma and Yumeno sleeping near Chabashira's research lab. Unsure of what to really do Saihara waited quietly as Ouma seemed to shuffle about nervously in place eyes glued to the floor before finally speaking up.

"So… um, there was, there was some stuff in my room that I… I mean I think I was trying to investigate the school before or something similar to that and I found, well I have a bunch of notes and apparently I haven't well you haven't seen them so Momota-chan suggested that I show you so…" Ouma explained holding the papers out in Saihara's direction as if the smaller boy didn't quite know how to finish and decided it was probably better just to show him.

Despite the ingrained instinct to be on his toes around Ouma Saihara found his expression softening as he gently took the papers from him, the nervousness he was seeing in the other boy felt all too familiar having felt it himself plenty of times and that made him almost want to help the other boy out. He found himself examining Ouma once again trying to figure out something out about the smaller boy, he'd done it before of course but trying to make sense of someone like Ouma seemed impossible the others mask was always way too well but together for Saihara to ever really find out what was underneath it but right now the mask was gone and all Saihara could see was just an ordinary boy looking nervous and barely able to make eye contact.

It was almost as though this was a completely different Ouma than the one they had all come to know so far, could losing his memory really cause that much of a change?

Taking a look at the papers handed to him Saihara found his eyes widening in surprise as he was met with the sight of hand-drawn maps of most of the Academy with observations and notes about different rooms, "Ouma-kun did you make this?" Saihara found himself asking not able to believe that he was holding this, there where some notes that were written in a cipher but he could already tell at a glance that real thought had gone into these maps and they might actually hold some answers that they had all been looking for.

Ouma looked slightly surprised at being addressed but seemed to manage to nod nervously though the smaller boys eyes remained glued to the floor "ah yes… I mean I think I did? They're, they are in my handwriting and everything… and I found some notes in my room so like I said I think I was trying to investigate something about the school but I… I'm not sure if I if there's anything that will be of help." Ouma explained as Saihara continued to shuffle through the papers, even with just these there was a lot of information and if he remembered the mess in Ouma's room correctly there should actually be more notes and who knows how much stuff was in there that they could use.

"Hey come on don't look so down you're still a teenager!" Yumeno suddenly scolded catching both Saihara's and Ouma's attention as the magician continued "You need to be lively you're doing your best so you should be proud of that besides you shouldn't worry too much about what you did before you were hit with a niceness spell," Yumeno encouraged and it was still kind of surprising to see Yumeno so energetic but he supposed it was probably best not to question it Ouma didn't seem affected by Yumeno's change in character though that was probably because the Supreme Leader didn't know Yumeno any other way at the moment.

Though Saihara did notice that Ouma looked slightly uncomfortable at the mention of his actions before his memory loss not that the detective was surprised after all he doubted that his classmates had anything exactly good to say about the supreme leader's actions before now.

Momota probably noticed Ouma's slightly uncomfortable look as well since the astronaut decided to add on to the conversation though it was still weird to find the astronaut being mindful of the liar when the two had been at such odds before, though Saihara guesses he couldn't really keep thinking of the Ouma in front of him as the Ouma they had all been dealing with from before. The brief interactions that Saihara had had with him so far were proof enough of that this Ouma seemed a lot more honest and less sure of himself, maybe that was why Ouma was more open he no longer trusted himself to lie?

It was actually hard to imagine what the smaller boy was going through now that Saihara took a moment to think about how Ouma was feeling about his amnesia. To not know who you were was probably pretty jarring and Ouma was probably trying to figure out what to do himself, it certainly explained Ouma's more nervous nature after all. The supreme leader had always seemed so sure of himself before but now seeing him nervous and uncertain and even in the need of reassurance; it was almost like Saihara and his classmates were actually seeing Ouma as human for the first time.

"Yeah, this stuff is actually pretty cool you were even able to tell us stuff about places that we hadn't even thought of before when we were showing you around!" Momota said in that encouraging tone of voice that Saihara always found himself taking comfort in which made Ouma's face turn red and Saihara suddenly found himself wishing he had a camera because he doesn't think he had ever seen Ouma blush or look anything close to embarrassed before.

Suddenly Ouma perked up as if he suddenly realized something, "Oh! Um… my notes said there was a secret door in this library…" Ouma stated waiting for someone else to pick up the conversation as if he wasn't sure how to say what he wanted to ask though the unsaid question was clear though, Ouma wanted more information about the mysterious hidden door in the library. Saihara guesses that wasn't really a surprise though; Ouma had always seemed a bit more knowledgeable than the rest of them and that knowledge must have stemmed from some kind of natural curiosity so at least despite the differences there was some of the Ouma they knew in there.

Though he wasn't sure yet if that was a good or bad thing. 

At the mention, at the hidden door though Saihara found himself wanting to flinch and was only just barely able to keep from raising his hand to pull down a hat that was no longer even there. He'd been hoping that the door wouldn't be mentioned not only was it a slightly sore spot for him but it also kind of brought up what he was even doing in the library in the first place and he didn't really want to admit that he had tried to use the keycard when everyone had trusted him with the motive in the first place.

"Oh, do you think that the keycard might open the door?" Yumeno asked almost in response to Saihara's thoughts and this time the detective couldn't fight back a slight wince; the wince seemed to earn him a curious look from Ouma before the other boy seemed to discard whatever thought he was having and instead seemed to perk up and turn a questioning look at Yumeno.

"…Keycard?" Ouma asked curiously though there was some hesitance in his voice as if there had been a battle between Ouma's newfound nervousness and his need for information with the smaller boys curiosity only just winning out. Though that was right Ouma hadn't been at breakfast so he wouldn't know about the new motive.

"Monokuma gave us a keycard at breakfast as a motive, though we don't know what it opens yet," Saihara explained and at the mention of the keycard the object seemed to grow heavier in his pocket once again, Ouma nodded at the answer before looking down thoughtfully.

"I know we should probably ignore it since it's a motive but do you think we should check if it opens the secret door?" Yumeno asked and Saihara wasn't entirely sure how to answer that because while he knew that it wouldn't open the door admitting that would also be admitting he tried to use the key card though he guesses that if he just let them try it now it would be fine since nothing would happen but that still felt like deceiving his friends.

"No I doubt trying it would work," Ouma's voice suddenly sounded out catching everyone in the room's attention it was different than how the supreme leader had been speaking to them before because it seemed to lack any hesitation which Saihara guesses was because Ouma wasn't really talking to them right now but almost to himself the smaller boys eyes having an almost glassy far away look showing that he was currently lost in thought.

"When Monokuma came to me last night he called this entire situation a game and while peoples lives aren't something anyone should play with if Monokuma who from what I can tell seems to be in charge of everything is calling it a game then it should probably act like a game in someway and some of my notes call that hidden door a mastermind door so I doubt Monokuma would just give us something that would just end the game like that if you think about finding the mastermind as ending the game so it's probably not…" Ouma trailed off, as he seemed to realize that he was being watched face growing red as the smaller boy realized he had been talking without thinking before slamming a hand over his mouth in embarrassment.

"Ah! I'm, I'm sorry! I mean… just ignore all that I wasn't thinking; I mean I was but those were just thoughts, thinking to myself and you should probably just ignore them I mean it's not like I'm a detective or anything like Saihara-chan is and I didn't mean to talk out loud I don't know why I said that I'm sorry I'm so, so sorry," Ouma rambled repeatedly apologizing and looked like he was about to start hyperventilating as he seemed to work himself up more and more.

"Hey! Calm down already all you said was you didn't think that the card would work don't work yourself up!" Momota's voice suddenly sounded out knocking Ouma out of whatever panic the smaller boy seemed to be working himself up to and Ouma seemed to calm down though he was still looking at the floor not seeming to be able to meet anyone's gaze.

"Geez you didn't need to panic it's not like you did anything wrong, it doesn't even matter since we're not even going to use that key card anyway and even if we did want to make sure, if it doesn't open the door it's not really that big of a deal since we couldn't open it before or anything," Momota said with a sigh rubbing the back of his head as Ouma continued to look down.

"I'm sorry," Ouma muttered and Saihara didn't really know what to do, he had remained frozen, as Ouma had been working himself up but the liar had been making some interesting points. Though that part about not wanting to play with peoples lives was very different to how Ouma acted before, was it because of his memory loss or was this how Ouma actually felt?

"It's fine you did make a good point and you're right the keycard probably won't open the door," Saihara said though it was amazing that Ouma had realized all of that from the limited information had he had managed to gather since last night; it made the detective wonder just what was in the liar's notes. "Ouma-kun you said you had more notes in your room?" Saihara asked causing Ouma to finally look up and give a hesitant nod.

Saihara wasn't really sure what he was doing but he found himself wanting to find out more about Ouma both the liar that they had been dealing with so far and the more timid and open one they were dealing with now, he had a feeling that he had the opportunity to learn more about the liars thoughts and motivations, just now Ouma mentioned that things should work like a game because Monokuma called it one, was that how Ouma thought before? Was Ouma constantly acting like he was having fun in this situation his way of telling them his thoughts?

Maybe it was a detective instinct like some of his friends had called it but Saihara was curious, he wanted to know more looking at Ouma's notes could help him figure out just what Ouma had been trying to do before and it might let him understand this new Ouma as well "can I look at them?" Saihara asked trying to gather his resolve and was unable to stop the slight flutter of excitement as Ouma gave another hesitant nod.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been ages and I am so sorry for that, I've just been really busy with life and university assignments and so many different things and just having so much writers block whenever I tried to write. Also I started playing persona 5 in my free time and wow does that game take up a lot of time I mean I love it but I've only just beat the first palace so you know still got a ways to go for that.
> 
> This chapter was also really hard to write because Saihara is a character who doesn't want his POV written by me apparently but yeah he and Ouma are going to be spending more time together finally also ingame Ouma may be suppressed but try and spot his influence.


	7. Chapter 7

Saihara honestly didn't care about what Ouma did unless it was directly affecting the rest of them; the liar was hard to understand and incredibly difficult to deal with so it had become the general consensus of the group to only deal with the supreme leader when they had to. Saihara was pretty sure that Gonta was the only person that willingly spent time with Ouma and even then he was sure that was only because Gonta was too nice not to spend time with someone when they asked or in Ouma's case ‘ordered'. The only other person Saihara could name off the top of his head that ever really chose to spend time with Ouma was himself when his curiosity as a detective got the better of him and he tried to see if he could figure the liar out.

Those encounters usually just left him tired and confused though.

Since encounters with the Supreme leader were usually so draining Saihara usually avoided them and as long as it wasn't directly affecting him or the others Saihara didn't really care what Ouma did in fact it seemed preferable for everyone to just leave the liar alone so Saihara didn't really care what Ouma did or how he lived. It didn't really concern him unless Ouma *made* it concern him.

That was why when he had visited Ouma's room when this whole mess started and the other boy had lost his memories while Saihara had noticed the cluttered mess that was Ouma Kokichi's room he honestly couldn't really say he had thought to care. If Ouma wanted to live in a cluttered room that was the liars business.

Now however as he sorted through the endless supply of papers and stacked boxes Saihara was really hit with how messy Ouma's room was despite obvious efforts to clean it up and organize some of the madness.

"Jesus Ouma why do you even have so much stuff?" Momota exclaimed stacking another box, Saihara was glad that the astronaut was here because he honestly did not think that he or Ouma could really lift some of the piles of junk in the room. The detective also didn't really want to be alone with Ouma despite the other boys easier to deal with state so having Momota there was also comforting.

"I'm not… really sure," Ouma mumbled hesitantly as he went through another stack of papers inspecting each one as if it would tell him something. With his memory loss, this room was the only real clue Ouma really had to tell him what he was really like before, sure he could always ask one of them but the smaller boy had probably figured out by now that he wouldn't get a positive response.

In a way, both Saihara and this new Ouma were trying to use this room to figure out the Super High School Level Supreme Leader.

"Maybe I just really liked drawing?" Ouma joked half-heartedly as he picked up another picture and seemed to perk up at the sight of it, "look this one's of Kiibo!" Ouma exclaimed excitedly showing the others in the room with him a childish during of the robot, which had an arrows pointing Kiibo saying the words ‘weird' and ‘strange'.

"That's pretty good," Yumeno compliment which seemed to make Ouma beam slightly and examine the picture again. Saihara had been a bit surprised that Yumeno had come with them, Momota was understandable since the astronaut had claimed it was a hero's job to help but he thought for sure that Yumeno would complain that something like this was too much of a pain. Even Saihara thought this was too much of a pain at the moment.

It just went to show that Yumeno really might be putting in an effort to grow, though since they had started the small magician hadn't been much help simply sitting in a corner close to Ouma and helping the smaller boy look through Ouma's childish doodles.

"You think?" Ouma asked still looking at his drawing of Kiibo, "Maybe I should show it to him?" Ouma wondered aloud innocently before he would have thought that Ouma would have wanted to tease the robot with the insults that were written on the picture but the short amount of time that Saihara had been spending with the amnesiac liar made him think that the smaller boy may just want to show someone his drawing.

This Ouma felt a lot more…earnest than before it was honestly kind of refreshing.

"Um, I don't think that's a good idea," Saihara said trying to hide a slight smile behind his hands.

"Nyeh, maybe you should draw him a new picture?" Yumeno suggests raising a finger thoughtfully "he'd probably like a picture drawn by the nice you better anyway". Yumeno continued not noticing that she had caused Ouma to look down suddenly as he began to put the picture away in the pile of papers that had already been looked at.

"Hey, you could draw a picture of me too!" Yumeno exclaimed excitedly as Ouma laughed nervously at the idea looking back at the drawing of Kiibo sitting on the top the pile it had just been put in before reaching to look at another piece of paper, a slightly uncomfortable energy radiating from him.

Saihara felt as though he should say something but he wasn't sure what and it would probably be awkward to try and shift the conversation elsewhere but it felt weird to see Ouma like this, it was probably the closest to guilt that he'd ever see on the liars face. Ouma probably deserved to feel uncomfortable for his past actions but was it really right to hold someone accountable for something that they didn't remember?

Not really knowing what to do he found himself subconsciously turning towards Momota for a sense of direction only to find the astronaut with his fists together staring at them thoughtfully a faint frown on his face.

At seeing his friends' thoughtful expression Saihara was about to open his mouth and ask Momota if anything was wrong when the luminary suddenly went to pick something up from the piles of boxes he had been helping to stack.

"Hey, Ouma did you steal a chess set?" Momota asked loudly holding up the boxed game as he did so as if in a demonstration. Ouma seemed to perk up at being addressed getting up and walking over to where Momota was to inspect the chess set.

"I hope not, maybe I borrowed it?" Ouma suggested hopefully catching Saihara's attention.

"Is borrowing better?" Saihara found himself asking and he swore that Ouma jumped slightly at being addressed before the smaller boy nodded hesitantly.

"Well… I mean yes…it, it is I guess. Borrowing means, it means you plan to return it right? And I think… I think it would be a shame to keep the game for yourself" Ouma muttered nervously under his gaze looking pointedly at the chess set "games are… they're meant to be played with other people and you need at least two people to play chess." Ouma stated as Saihara put a hand to his mouth to wonder about Ouma's words.

"What about playing against the computer? That's kind of like one person chess," Momota suggested causing Ouma to look up at him in surprise before immediately looking down and fidgeting nervously.

"Oh, I guess you could do that… but I meant… I was talking about chess outside of a computer…" Ouma muttered awkwardly and Saihara couldn't help the slight laugh that escaped him. Ouma turned to him looking surprised before quickly looking away suddenly seeming very interested in his scarf. Saihara decided that maybe it would be better to pretend as though he didn't notice the tips of the smaller boys ears turning red.

"I wonder if I liked playing chess before," Ouma muttered still examining his scarf, it was true that Ouma's scarf did have a chess board pattern though Saihara had never really thought about linking it with the game of chess but thinking of Ouma with the liars love of mind games and trickery he could see him like a game of strategy like chess.

"I think it's safe to assume that you probably did, you did bring the chess set here after all," Saihara said thoughtfully as he noticed Momota seemed to be looking slightly thoughtful as well.

"Hey Ouma right now, what do you think of chess?" Momota asked suddenly catching Ouma's attention, the smaller boy looked thoughtful for a minute and began opening up the chess set and examining the pieces.

"I… I think I do like it, I mean… it sounds fun and when I think of playing… I, I feel excited? I guess…" Ouma trailed off as if he wasn't sure how to put into words what he wanted to say seeming thoughtful again only to have whatever train of thought he was having suddenly broken when Momota brought his fists together and looked excited.

"All right it's decided you and Shuichi should play a game of chess against each other!"

Ouma looked as taken aback by Momota's sudden declaration as Saihara felt, it was weird feeling as though he was on the same page as Ouma but this was a different Ouma. Though different or not Ouma still seemed to be able to recover faster them him or at least process the situation faster than he did so that was familiar at least.

"What!? No… I don't think playing with me would be very fun and besides he'd probably have a better time playing with you, and um-" Ouma began to ramble as Momota just gave both Ouma and Saihara a reassuring smile before clearing a space to set up the chessboard.

"Nah, trust me knowing you, you'll probably be great at it and besides I can't go first a hero's got to let his sidekick fight some battles sometimes before they swoop in right?" Momota reassured and Saihara almost felt a slight eye twitch at that before smiling fondly at the astronauts positive outlook and sighing he resigned himself to his fate taking a seat on one side of the board. 

Ouma looked hesitant for a few moments before he awkwardly sat down as well and the two began to play. He lost the first game. However, Saihara didn't really mind his loss couldn't help but smile at the excited look in Ouma's eyes. Usually, any excited look in the supreme leader's eyes should be met with dread or dismay at any of his actions that he was planning or had just committed however there was no devious glint in this Ouma's eyes just simple honest enjoyment.

He couldn't help but feel as though it would probably be a lot easier to be Ouma's friend if he had a look like that in his eyes more often.

"Do you want to play again?" Saihara asked softly in a more patient voice than he'd ever thought he would use with Ouma and smiled when Ouma gave a hesitant but excited nod.

"Are you really sure you want to play again?" Ouma asked looking a bit surprised as though he didn't really believe it as they were both setting up the chess pieces again for their second game.

Saihara found himself giving his own reassuring smile and while it probably wasn't as good as Momota's he hoped that it would do its job in easing the smaller boy's fears. He could understand Ouma's hesitance, after all, Saihara wondered if he were bothering someone or taking up their time all the time he never imagined Ouma feeling like that though the liar from before usually not caring if he was bothering someone or even reveling in his annoyance. However, this Ouma was different, easier to read, easier to understand and more honest.

Saihara could honestly say that he liked the Ouma better.

While as a detective he was supposed to like mysteries he liked seeing a clear correspondence between motive and actions more, it was easier to tell why this Ouma did what he did than the other. Honestly the nervousness of not knowing who you were and only having unfortunate stories about yourself and a messy room as clues were understandable. Saihara liked being able to understand someone's motives he felt as though that was one of his few strong suites as a detective, despite how tragic it was he could understand the motives of the murders and even Angie's motive with her student council but with Ouma despite his best efforts he could never understand the motives of the Ouma before, with this Ouma he could.

The thought was honestly a little exciting and a bit relieving.

"Yeah I need to make my comeback somehow," Saihara joked answering Ouma's question getting a slight laugh out of Momota and Yumeno who had taken to watching their game.

"Yeah make sure you get your revenge!" Yumeno encouraged as the next game started.

Saihara lost the second game as well, however, Ouma didn't seem as excited in this game a frown deepening on his face with every one of Saihara's pieces that he took and Saihara couldn't help but mirror his own concerned from as well.

"Um… do you… do you want to play one more time?" Ouma asked hesitantly not looking up at him, eyes fixed onto the chessboard.

"Ah, sure," Saihara said awkwardly as they began playing their third game but as they started it was clear that something was wrong Ouma seemed to be paying more attention to the board and thinking more carefully about his moves but it was almost as if he were restricting himself and letting Saihara take his pieces.

Saihara won the third game.

"That's my sidekick! I guess third times the charm right Shuichi?" Momota congratulated patting him on the back though Saihara was still staring at the chess board it almost felt as though Ouma had led him to the victory it was a familiar feeling from the class trials that he sometimes felt but now it was stronger, more apparent.

"Don't feel bad Ouma two out of three isn't bad" Yumeno said sympathetically patting Ouma on the back while the small boy let out a half-hearted laugh and a slightly strained smile.

"Well, it was bound to happen eventually… um, maybe we should stop for today?" Ouma suggested moving to pack up the pieces as everything about that final game seemed to fit into place in the detective's mind.

"Ouma-kun you let me win that game didn't you?" 

Ouma froze at Saihara's question, which was all the confirmation that the detective needed. The smaller boy looked away, refusing to meet his eyes but Ouma's hands seemed to be trembling slightly.

"Huh? No!... I, I didn't… why would I lose on purpose?" Ouma asked but being familiar with the Ouma from before who was a master of lies and deception made this Ouma's attempt at lying look feeble and obvious in comparison.

"Ouma-kun, why did you let me win?" Saihara asked keeping his voice soft part of him wanted to be suspicious because he was dealing with Ouma but he couldn't help not being angry because it was a different Ouma.

"I… I thought that you wouldn't have any fun if you kept loosing…. And you wouldn't want to play anymore… I'm sorry" Ouma muttered still not looking up at him, his voice breaking slightly as he talked almost as if in guilt.

"Ouma-kun-" Saihara began only to be interrupted as Ouma stood up.

"I'm sorry!" Ouma blurted out before running out the before anyone had a chance to stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally update and this is what happens, Ouma just wants to make friends and for those friends to have fun playing with him. Saihara really should stop the line of thought that this Ouma and the Ouma he knows are different people even if he's right who knows what that kind of thinking will lead to.
> 
> Sorry I was absent for so long, I got sick and was in and out of the hospital for a while and then I had to focus of studying for my finals so I didn't have any time to write. I don't know how often I'll be able to write because being sick sort of sapped away all my energy even if I'm 'mostly' recovered now. I'll try to write when I can though. I wanted to at least get something out before Ouma's birthday though so even if it's an hour before midnight here I'll take it as a mission accomplished.

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a little funny idea that I wanted to write out, I'm really looking forward to what I have planned later. Also usually I write with a mix of localization and honorifics but I wanted to experiment with just honorifics just like I also wanted to experiment with switching POV. Also Harukawa and Saihara having a casual conversation as Ouma lays unconscious while bleeding out on the floor is definitely in character and that makes me feel a bit sad.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Oblivion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14290569) by [TwilightsDescent (wakingmeupishard)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wakingmeupishard/pseuds/TwilightsDescent)




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